Welton Rovers 1 Longwell Green Sports 5
Welton’s difficult season continued on a very wet and spongy West Clewes pitch, when they were clinically despatched by a strong second half performance from Longwell Green.
Within the first minute of the game, Welton had keeper, Sam Lewis, to thank when he produced two outstanding saves to deny the visitors an early lead. At the other end, Longwell keeper, Olly Player, was on hand to save well to deny Dan Cottle.
Further pressure from Welton saw good work from Steve Bridges on the left touch line, which saw him beat his marker and deliver a superb pass into the mix, but no Welton player reacted quickly enough to punish Longwell.
Further Welton pressure saw a deep free kick from Cottle met by Michael Jones, who rose above the Longwell defence only to head over the bar. Lewis was then called into action again, when he saved with his legs to deny James Pocock. Anthony Conradi then saw his goal-bound shot take a late deflection to see the ball go inches over the visitors’ bar to deny Welton the opening goal.
As the half-time whistle approached, a thumping shot from Liam Oswin saw it strike a Welton defender, hit the bar and go out for a corner. From the subsequent kick, the ball was met by Jon Macaunders, who headed home from close range.
The second half was only a minute old when a good attacking move from Longwell down the right saw the cross find Jack Rhys-Cook in space on the left and he drilled his shot into the Welton net to double the visitors’ lead.
On the sixtieth minute, things went from bad to worse for Welton, when Longwell were awarded a penalty and Rhys-Cook made no mistake with his spot kick. A minute later, the visitors made it four when hesitation in the Welton defence allowed Oswin in and he applied a clinical finish.
With ten minutes remaining, Welton managed to pull one back when Chris Pile volleyed home from ten yards out. However, the visitors were not to be outdone and minutes later, substitute, Ben Royal, was found in space and he calmly finished off in style. To make matters worse for Welton, on the stroke of full-time they were reduced to ten men when full back, Dan Scrivens, received his second yellow card and was sent off.
Bob Allard