Page 18 - Patchway Town v Little Stoke 210123

League Review

7th January 2023 - Gala Wilton stay top after
comeback at Quedgeley
Mark Simpson
After a somewhat extended break down came the rain and extended it further for some
teams. Anyway four matches survived and some cracking football was played with four of
the top five in action and with just three points between them.

We begin at bottom versus top at Waterwells where Gala Wilton maintained top spot coming
away with the three points with a last minute winner against hosts Quedgeley Wanderers. A
good crowd of 74 saw Quedgeley’s Sean Lawson make a run from halfway, took on and beat
a defender to fire into the bottom corner for a seventh minute lead. Gala drew level in the
14th minute when Connor Walters found the back of the net. The hosts were in front when
Lawson tapped one past Todd Holder following a corner. The leveller came in the 22nd
minute when Marcus Foxwell fired past keeper Ali Jefferies. The non-stop action continued
when Lawson played a great ball through for Ollie Curtis to give Quedgeley a 3-2 half time
lead. The second period started with a great save from Jefferies to keep Gala out. But it was
Wanderers who extended their lead when Lawson and Curtis played some great counter
attacking football leading to Jack Plant’s first goal for the Club. Half an hour into the half Gala
were awarded a penalty which Dan Gayner slotted home. Seven minutes on another penalty
for the visitors and Gayner this time struck the bar. The visitors eventually equalised with six
minutes to go, an initial shot blocked allowing Dan Gayner to tap in for 4-4. The final goal
came for Gala in the last minute with Kyle Gibbs scoring for 5-4 and a somewhat unfortunate
end for the bottom side.

A miserable day at Hillside Gardens saw a ‘late’ show for Rockleaze Rangers to take three
points off Henbury and move up to third. Rangers started the better with the dangerous
Brandon Boontam dominating affairs and on twelve minutes Jordan Dent sent Dan Webb
through only to strike the post from an acute angle. A few minutes later the same two
combined when Dent’s cross found Webb only to be denied by the linesman’s flag. The
visitors played their part with Ben Harris and Will Baldwin occupying both fullbacks. Dent
was still causing problems and a rasping volley on twenty four found the side netting and
later he fired at Damien Chlopecki in the visitors goal with probably the best chance of the
half. Henbury rallied and Harris’s vicious effort was turned round the post by Dunning. The
second period started with Rangers dominating possession and Boontam again at the centre
of it. The hosts were striking efforts at goal seemingly at will and denied by Chlopecki several
times – on 48 Dent struck the bar with dipping effort, on 55 a brilliant Webb cross was met
by Dent three yards out who contrived to miss and on 65 a Henry Jones corner was met by
Mike Perham and brilliantly turned over by Chlopecki. The somewhat inevitable came six
minutes later when an on rushing Dent was hauled down for a penalty which he dusted off
and converted himself. Henbury would not give up and ten minutes of pressure with
numerous corners and free kicks were dealt with by Rangers defence. On 81 minutes
Chlopecki was sin binned for Sam Allen to take over and guess what! Jones on the halfway
saw Allen way off his line and struck from nearly 50 yards out for it to nestle in the back of
the net. Two minutes later Rockleaze made sure of the points when Webb struck from the
just outside the area giving Allen no chance for 3-0 and a deserved three points against
a Henbury side who never gave up.