Win City (2 - 2) Blackfield & Langley
An hour gone, 2-0 up and awarded a penalty City were coasting to victory against unbeaten Blackfield and Langley on Saturday 7th September 2014. Up stepped the reliable penalty taker Zack Glasspool and in a moment the game changed. He decided to place the penalty and tamely stroked the ball for the 'keeper to save easily. Within minutes Blackfield had scored and City began to hang on to a slim lead.
Blackfield had the better of the play for the first 20 mniutes of the match as City struggled to get their game going. Winchester's first chance was created by Stewart Green who won the ball in midfield but was too heavy on the pass and the ball zipped passed Warren Bentley, well placed in the box.
It was Green again who had a header from a corner punched out from under the crossbar as City pressed forward.
The City defence were put to work by Blackfield but were steady under pressure and 'keeper Jason Collins did not have too much to worry about. At the other end Glasspool turned in the box, 'lost' his defender but shot wide.
It looked as if Bentley would score when he was fouled on the edge of the box. Glasspool took the free kick and after some good interplay with Bentley, he had a shot well saved.
City's breakthrough came in the 38th minute when Dominic Cope threaded the ball to Bentley to score from close range.
City opened the second half on the attack Bentley laid off a chance for Cope but again Gareth Barfoot in the Blackfield goal pulled off a good save. Green burst into the penalty box and was brought down but the Referee waved away his penalty shout.
City went two-up when Glasspool laid the ball off to Bentley who tucked it away with style for his second goal (56th minute).
Two minutes later Winchester were given a glorious chance to go three-up when handball was given from Chris Manning's cross but the keeper came to Blackfield's rescue.
This save gave Blackfield the impetus they needed and they pulled one back when a long range shot caught out Collins. (66th).
Winchester's management duo replaced the tiring Glasspool in the 68th minute with Sam Wilson but on this occasion the like-for-like change did not really work as by this period of the game City's crosses from the flanks had dried up and Bentley and Wilson were not receiving the support they needed. One promising move, however, saw Bentley lay on a ball for Wilson but he put it over the bar.
Disaster struck Winchester in the 69th minute when Collins decided to rush out of goal and out of the penalty area, totally failing to win the ball allowing for a cross and a header from City old boy Jamie Musselwhite into the empty net.
Further substitutions in the 75th minute, Chris Mason coming on for Manning and Liam Green for Cope (81st) had no real effect and City had to settle for a point.
With at least five or six teams showing championship form at this stage of the season, the Sydenhams Wessex League promises an interesting few months ahead.
City: Jason Collins, Adam Tomasso, Joe Wright, Stewart Green, Leigh Mills, Luke Dempsey, Mike McEnery, Chris Manning, Zack Glasspool, Warren Bentley, Dominic Cope, Sam Wilson, Chris Mason, Liam Green, Geoff Dunn and Ryan Holloway.
