Bredon 0-3 Gala Wilton…
The Mowdog’s thoughts…
The setting at Bredon, near its famous hill, was really pleasant and the facilities were very good there, although the result of this end of season game was not what the few spectators present might have expected.
Gala attacked from the start and in truth, the hosts really didn’t perform very well at all, despite missing three acceptable chances as the second period wore on. However, anything other than a victory for the guests would have been harsh on them and they actually moved out of the bottom two in the Gloucestershire Senior League Division 1 following the contest.
The absolute commitment of Gala’s two central defenders, Jake Gurney and Tom Berry was immense throughout the encounter and Berry’s huge throws-in usually caused havoc in the home ranks. Berry even saw my camera during the match and decided to pose for a shot… Hmm…
Gala’s central striker Jordan Molyneux was a pain in the arse for the home defenders with his movement and pace and he was effectively supported by forwards Jake Wellington and Mikey Hodgins. All three of them scored, the first two with first period headers and Hodgins with a late cross-cum-shot which floated over home ‘keeper Dan Johns.
One feature of Gala’s display was that of the fully committed midfielder Jacob Eakers, who was simply everywhere the action was, he received a caution too but that failed to diminish his efforts. A couple of shots from downtown by him were wayward but subsequently he was constantly involved in the game.
Oddly, there weren’t too many actual goalscoring chances created during the proceedings, although Bredon’s Oli Nicholls headed across goal and wide of the far stick during the first-half and then he lifted a second period shot too high with only visiting gloveman Aaron ‘Gimpy’ Charman to beat. Oddly, home replacement Sam Byde did exactly the same thing minutes later. Home skipper Sam Jones had an early angled drive blocked by Charman’s feet and Jacob Barone shot across the face of goal after the recess.
Gala’s Hodgins had been denied by the advancing Johns just before his team took the lead, then after the guests went 0-3 ahead, twice Wellington had powerful shots blocked by a threatened home defence and Nathan Heaven headed over the target from a decent position.
All told, Bredon’s disappointment was in total contrast to Gala’s sheer delight at moving up the league table by a couple of places…
The goals…
Hodgins had raced onto a lobbed pass by Wellington’s boot but his shot was blocked by Ben Witt and the winger was ushered away towards the right byeline. From there he turned onto his left foot and delivered a cross towards the far post, where Molyneux got in front of Barone to head the ball downwards past the scurrying Johns from a few yards out…
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| MOLYNEUX JUMPS FOR HODGINS' CENTRE... |
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| ...HIS DOWNWARD HEADER FINDS THE NET... |
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| ...& IS CAUGHT BY EAKERS... |
The second goal stemmed from a free-kick delivery by Eakers, inside-right, around 30 yards out but it seemed that Wellington had been keen to take it too. He relented though and made his way into the penalty-box, getting in front of Barone to power in a close range header…
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| EAKERS' FREE-KICK... |
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| ...IS HEADED BY WELLINGTON (7)... |
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| ...FOR 0-2... |
The final goal was scored on a breakaway from a Bredon corner and Gala replacement Somtochukwu Obieri’s clearance sent Wellington scurrying away in his boots on the left, supported by Hodgins. Barone and then Byde tried to deny the Wilton pair but the ball’s diversions favoured the visitors and from a fairly acute angle, Hodgins’ left-booted centre rose perfectly and dropped into the far corner of the net…
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| HODGINS' DELIVERY... |
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| ...IS WATCHED AS IT SOARS... |
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| ...& DROPS INTO THE NET FOR 0-3... |
The final words…
Thanks to Bredon for the fine welcome, whilst the enthusiasm of the Gala supporters was refreshing to see and my requests to snap images of the two team sheets were accepted with good grace…
Noah Hart and later in the match Elliot Miles-Kingston, a replacement, battled hard in midfield for the hosts, whilst little went right for home forwards Nicholls and Toby Patterson. Guy Brookes was always prominent for his team though and defender Jai Smallwood was efficient throughout.
For the visitors, their embattled central defenders Gurney and Berry were excellent on the day, whilst skipper Brad Loveridge and left-back Alex Pritchard, who played on for some time with an ankle injury, both supported the central defenders splendidly.
Wakib Said was neat on the ball in midfield on occasions and Heaven backed up the efforts of Eakers in the creativity department…
All in all, a good day for Gala Wilton and their followers…
I hope home player Ben Witt’s injury isn’t too bad, for he was helped slowly from the field during the second-half…
The images...
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THIS WASN'T A FUMBLED THROW BY BERRY.
HE HAD JUST BEEN TRIPPED... |
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| POSER? SURELY NOT... |
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| HAVE THEY SEEN A RED KITE??? |
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| GOAL 3 HAS JUST GONE IN FOR GALA... |
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| AGONY FOR WITT... |
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REPLACEMENT DRINKWATER HAS LIKELY DRUNK RED BULL INSTEAD, FOR HE HAS WINGS...
A PITY IT WASN'T NATHAN HEAVEN STANDING THERE... |
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| A WHOLE LOT OF BENDING AND SNIFFING GOING ON... |
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| MANNING & OBIERI... |
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| OBIERI'S LATE CLEARANCE WOULD SET UP GOAL 3 FOR HIS TEAM... |
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| LEARY, RIGHT, MADE A COUPLE OF TIMELY INTERVENTIONS FOR HIS TEAM NEAR THE END... |
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| SAID, WITT & HEAVEN... |
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| GURNEY: A RELENTLESS DEFENDER... |
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| GOOD MOMENT BETWEEN MLES-KINGSTON & SAID... |
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| NICHOLLS: A COUPLE OF CHANCES MISSED... |
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| EAKERS, LEFT: HEAVILY INVOLVED FOR GALA... |
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| 2ND HALF TO START... |
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| HODGINS (11) MAKES A RUSH... |
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| GOAL CELEBRATION... |
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| MOLYNEUX & HODGINS BOTH SCORED ON THE DAY... |
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| PRITCHARD KNEW HE WAS HURT QUITE BADLY BUT CARRIED ON FOR HIS TEAM, WHICH HAD ONLY TWO SUBSTITUTES PRESENT... |
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| LOOKS LIKE BROOKES HAS SEEN A HUGE SPIDER & THE BALL HAS GONE TO HEAVEN... |
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| PRITCHARD FEELS IT STILL... |
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| IS JONES THROWING AN INVISIBLE JAVELIN? |
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| SAID MARKS NICHOLLS... |
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| THE START... |
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| AERIAL DUEL... |
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| SKIPPER LOVERIDGE IS AT THE COIN TOSS, SO THE OTHERS GOSSIP ABOUT HIM... |
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| ...& HERE'S THE COIN TOSS... |
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THE FACILTIES END.
A FOOTBALL LOOPED ONTO THE BOWLING GREEN & WHEN A WOMAN WANTED TO HAND IT BACK, I ASKED HER: "WASN'T IT ANY GOOD FOR YOU?"
SHE REPLIED SERIOUSLY, "NO..." |
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| THE HILL END... |
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| BREDON'S FACILITIES... |
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THE BODGING & THE PYDOG HAVE SUNSHINE & COFFEE.
WHAT'S NOT TO LIKE?
FINALLY, THE LINK TO THE VIDEO ACTION:
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