Welton Rovers 0 Brixham AFC 2: After two wins on the trot Welton were looking to extend their winning run when they entertained their visitors from South Devon at West Clewes, however Brixham had other ideas and in the end ran out comfortable winners over a lack lustre Welton.

The game got underway on a cloudy humid afternoon with spots of rain in the air and early pressure from Brixham saw Welton keeper Frankie Phillips do well to deal with Josh Parry’s shot. The visitors took the lead in the tenth minute when a long throw from the right was met by Welton’s central defender Joe Garland who could only header backwards and the ball fell to Kieron Parkin who was stationary on the edge of the six yard box and he glanced his header into the Welton net. Welton reacted to this early set back and a Ben Wych free kick from the edge of the area was well saved by Brixham keeper Grant Fisher. At the other end good play from Aaron Wellington saw him dissect the Welton defence and shot across goal only to see his effort go inches wide of getting number two for the visitors. Brixham were not resting on their laurels and were taking the game to Welton and Phillips did well again to deny Charlie Johansen. Just before the halftime break Connor Linham was booked by referee Mann and Welton manager Tom Smith immediately substituted the player and brought on Will Gould.

The second half began with Danny Carpenter replacing Louis Gurner as Welton pressed for the equaliser. However, the strong and experienced Brixham back four were able to deal with all that was being thrown at them. A long range effort from Wellington flew high over the Welton bar and young Carpenter did well with a last ditch tackle in the mix to deny the visitors a second goal. Phillips then produced an outstanding save as he palmed away Parry’s goal bound shot and the young keeper was called into action minutes later to deny Parry a second time, this time in front of goal.

The inevitable second goal was going to come, a corner on the left fell to Charlie Madden in the Welton mix, he headed goalwards and it glanced Parry who was lurking on the goal line and went in to give the visitors the all important second goal. Welton tried to respond but they were unable to cause many problems for the visitors who were sitting back to defend their lead. Johansen was sin binned for something he said to the referee and minutes later Brixham were down to nine men when Wellington was shown a straight red for lashing out at Dan Cottle. Welton could not make this numerical advantage count and the closest they got was a Lewis Hunt header that was easily gathered by Fisher. Just before the final whistle Welton were reduced to ten men when fullback Will Ford was shown a straight red card for a tackle on Jake Chisholm.

In the end Brixham fully deserved the three points and Welton now have time to regroup as they are without a fixture next Saturday.

Bob Allard