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Saturday 15th December 2<strong>01</strong>2<br />
Though Minehead took the match to their<br />
hosts, a golden chance to elevate themselves fur-<br />
ther up the league table was essentially lost at 5 th<br />
placed Ashton & Backwell on Saturday, when<br />
Minehead’s forwards repeatedly drew blanks.<br />
In another entertaining game in which for<br />
long periods Minehead outplayed their hosts, the<br />
blues should have fired themselves into a two goal<br />
lead in the first ten minutes but firstly, with just 2<br />
minutes on the clock Guy Burns threaded the ball<br />
through to Luke Freeman who beat his defender<br />
but slotted his angled shot from 10 yards out a<br />
foot wide of the far post. Eight minutes later from<br />
a short corner, Mike Mullen floated a perfect cross<br />
over the last defender to Freeman whose first time<br />
side-footed volley from the same position as earlier<br />
again ended up inches wide of the goal frame.<br />
Guy Burns’ trickery was causing the home<br />
defence all sorts of problems and on 18 minutes<br />
after the striker had been felled on the edge of the<br />
box, makeshift defender Lee Smyth smashed the<br />
free kick goalwards, bringing a superb save out of<br />
Gary Clarke in the home goal, who tipped the ball<br />
around the post for a corner.<br />
A good run from Damion Redman resulted<br />
in his cut back cross for Chris Yeates, but the industrious<br />
midfielder’s shot from the edge of the box<br />
went inches wide Next the agile Clarke parried<br />
away Guy Burns’ right food shot for another corner,<br />
but against the run of play a dubiously awarded<br />
free kick on the edge of the box found it’s way<br />
through to Lee Delaney who beat Minehead’s 16<br />
year old keeper Kyran Wilkins from 6 yards out.<br />
The second half started with Minehead<br />
playing up the slope, and again they took the game<br />
to their hosts, and straight after the restart Chris<br />
Yeates met Lee Smyth’s cross but as he proved<br />
during the first half, keeper Gary Clarke was proving<br />
a tough figure to beat. On the hour another<br />
foul on Guy Burns saw a free kick in a dangerous<br />
position curled just over by Lee Smyth.<br />
Minehead were not always having things<br />
completely their own way, and with an incisive<br />
move showing why they seem permanently in the<br />
top quarter of the table the Lee Delaney almost<br />
Minehead AFC - (Errea Somerset County Premier League) Page 7<br />
ASHTON & BACKWELL UNITED (1)1 MINEHEAD (0) 0<br />
doubled his tally but shot wide when well placed.<br />
In another attack the ball travelled across the<br />
blues six yard box with no striker able to deflect<br />
the ball goalwards and shortly afterwards a clever<br />
lob from Delany bounced off the top of the crossbar.<br />
But it was Minehead who did by far the<br />
most pressing and after bringing on Aaron Deeks,<br />
Jack Groves-Furse and Martyn Phillips it looked<br />
increasingly possible that all three points could<br />
still be won. Another free kick from Lee Smyth<br />
went over the bar, and after cutting in from the<br />
left Jack Groves-Furse’s shot from eight yards was<br />
parried away for a corner by Clarke.<br />
Luke Webber then burst passed two defenders<br />
and after his run had taken him to eight<br />
yards out his shot at goal was too weak and<br />
straight at Clarke. Shortly afterwards, with the<br />
blues attack becoming desperate, comments<br />
made to the referee by Webber were strong<br />
enough to earn him a yellow card.<br />
In the closing minutes with Minehead<br />
seemingly camped in the home half, another<br />
breakaway from the hosts resulted in a desperate<br />
challenge from Lee Smyth upending a marauding<br />
striker, earning the defender a yellow card which<br />
was also shown to Martyn Phillips for his over<br />
zealous remonstrating that the challenge was two<br />
yards outside of the penalty area.<br />
The eventual penalty kick, taken by Delaney,<br />
was expertly saved by Wilkins in the Minehead<br />
goal, but there was not enough time to<br />
mount another attack and the points stayed with<br />
the home side.<br />
Minehead’s strike force will be ruing the<br />
chances spurned over the last two highly important<br />
games, in which their play would ordinarily<br />
have been enough to have claimed all six points<br />
and pushed them up into the top three. However<br />
they remain in sixth position and gladly there are<br />
many more points to be played for in the next 20<br />
plus weeks of the season.<br />
Minehead: K Wilkins, C Newbold, L Smyth., M<br />
Mullen, P Smyth, C Yeates, S Phillips, L Freeman, L<br />
Webber, G Burns, D Redman<br />
Subs: A Deeks (8,70), M Phillips (10,72), J Groves-<br />
Furse (11,72)
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