Page 20 - Brislington FC v Hengrove Athletic 150823

Radstock unbeaten run ended

Match Report
Brislington vs Radstcock Town
Toolsta on Western League Division One
th
Tuesday 8 August 2023
The Foxes were playing their fourth game in 10 days, the latest visitors to The Poplar Stadium being
Radstock Town who were unbeaten in their opening three games.
Manager Lee Perks was s ll without Asa White (suspended), while Josh Egan and Harry Tobin were
absent due to work commitments. Lewis Dunn returned to the heart of the defence a er a calf
injury, and in came Jordan Scadding and Joe McLennan with Jones and Griffiths rested.
The early stages of the season are always fast and furious with lots of games in a short space of me,
so being able to rotate a squad is very o en the difference between teams running on empty or
losing players to Injury which is o en the difference in the early league form.
A much changed and much improved Radstock were coming in to the game high on confidence,
sensing the blood of last year’s champions, however the home side were in no mood to let them
stand in the way of the three points on offer.
From the off it was the Foxes who stamped their authority on the game. It's going to be difficult to
pick the individual incidents for this report because there were so many, and in truth the home side
could have been almost out of sight by the end of the first 45 such was their dominance. It was not
that Radstock didn't work hard or retain good shape and they have players that look competent, it
was more the fact that Brislington's mix of controlling the ball when necessary and going direct when
it was on was crea ng havoc for the visitors who were for the most part scrambling to keep the red
waves at bay.
Doddimead and Buck in par cular were crea ng panic every me the Foxes a acked the first chance
coming on 5 minutes when Buck flicked the Ball on for Doddimead who nipped past his defender to
lob the Goalkeeper, his shot going agonisingly wide of the far post from the edge of the box.
Then it was Scadding (who was dealt some harsh treatment throughout) who was next to have a go.
A great ball from full back Lewis Ewins found Scadding‘s late run, but his sliding shot back across the
keeper slipped just wide off of the upright.
There really was no weak link in the home sides armoury, a acks were coming from every angle, and
Radstock were struggling to clear their lines.
A minute later it was Buck who beat his man and struck well s nging the goalkeeper’s hands. Then
came the breakthrough, the first of numerous fouls on Scadding gave the home side a free kick in the
centre circle which was taken quickly by Skipper Ricke s. His glorious pass wide was taken down
exquisitely by McLennan who controlled and turned his marker in one move, then drove into the box
before passing across the face of goal to Buck who‘d arrived at the far post to fire in to the roof of
the net. 1-0 Brislington.
Doddimead had another good chance from a move that began with an a ack from the right edge of
the visitors box, which started via a McLennan 'Rabona' pass to Smith, then con nued with a slick
series of passes through Ewins, Ricke s, and Dunn and eventually found Williams on the opposite
flank who's lovely cross was controlled and struck well by the front man only to see it stopped by the
keepers feet.
The only real threat from the opponents came when Phillips had to get down smartly to his right to
p away a shot from distance that looked to be heading goalward.
Half Time: Brislington 1-0 Radstock