Premier Division
Yate Town 0 Pegasus Juniors 2
Saturday, 15 February 2003
Pegasus Juniors travelled to third place Yate Town with an air of confidence despite the disappointment of a home defeat in midweek. The home side had the greater share of possession but the lack of creativity coupled with poor finishing was their downfall. Two well-worked goals one in each half secured the points and eased the pain of a heavy defeat by Yate early in the season.
The visitors produced a purposeful performance with a different game plan after Darren Preece and Del Ewers were pronounced unfit through injuries. Keith Holmans was included in the starting eleven and proved a valuable addition even though his match fitness has suffered after an eight-week absence through injury.
Pegasus showed their positive intentions as early as the third minute when Laurence Helme set Ben Wheeler free on the left his pin point cross was cleared off the toe of Adriano Girolami by defender Neil Long. On the quarter hour mark debutant Pegasus keeper John Mahoney made a smart save from a Paul Metherington shot that went through a group of players. Town hauled themselves back into the game with plenty of possession without much penetration forcing Pegasus to play more on the counter; Holmans found the unmarked Wheeler but the youngster was unable to test Tony Court with his first time effort. Helme and Wheeler were enjoying the freedom given to them by the home defence and Pete Wallace was unlucky when he got between his marker and keeper but could not reach the ball from Helme. A speculative cross by Tony Howse caused Mahoney some concern his clearance punch fell to Ross Casey but his shot rebounded to safety off the crossbar. A minute before the break Neal Hotchkiss won the ball on the ?D? his deft pass found Wallace producing his best performance of the season so far, just inside the penalty area, the home defence made a poor attempt to play offside then the striker calmly steered the ball past Court for his eighth goal of the season.
Half Time: 0-1
After the break Yate produced some nice play before David Bright had a snap shot on the turn that brought a competent save from Mahoney. On the hour mark Helme and Wheeler combined before the latter crossed the ball to Wallace who allowed it to run through to Hotchkiss who neatly beat a defender before coolly placing the ball beyond the reach of Court to silence the hundred strong home supporters. Not surprisingly Town took the game to their opponents and were encamped in the visiting half for long periods; however, they were unable to break down a resolute defence where Joe Wright and man of the match Steve Aubrey were commanding. In the final minute Wallace beat three defenders before his effort was saved by Court.
Victory did not come cheaply as Pegasus have almost certainly lost the services of Wright and Hotchkiss with knee injuries and probably Mahoney with damaged ribs following an over zealous challenge by Metherington.
|
|