Kewstoke on top form

KEWSTOKE Juniors Under-14s produced close to if not their finest performance of the season away to Weston Crusaders after a long absence without a game.

With only 11 players available everyone gave their all with a 100 per cent effort and commitment.

Crusaders started the brighter for the first 10 minutes, but the Kewstoke back four of Jordan Sole, Luke Flannigan, Mike Deane and Lawrence Mayer did enough to snuff out any attempts on goal.

The midfield started to press their authority in the middle of the park, with Dan Cockle breaking up any threat, allowing Ben Harris and James Hodgkinson to feed Jake Groves and Lewis Clamp down the wings, thus allowing Kewstoke several attempts on target.

The deadlock was broken after 25 minutes when Groves squared a ball to Ryan Hill who from 20 yards out saw the keeper off his line and with a superb lob gave the visitors a well deserved lead going into the break.

Crusaders came out fighting in the second half, but again the work rate of every Kewstoke man meant they kept possession for long periods, creating many opportunities. With five minutes to go, Kewstoke keeper Luke Bryant pulled off a fantastic reflex save to deny the equaliser and ensure the visitors left with all three points.

Although all 11 players were outstanding the AC Builders man of the match went to Dan Cockle.

BANWELL Under-10s A played Milton Nomads in a friendly which was well contested.

Nomads started the better, taking control of the game and putting Banwell on the back foot with some good passing football, which resulted in Nomads scoring two great goals.

Banwell then found some form and turned the tables with the midfield of Charlie Camper, Billy Berry and Luke Edwards winning possession and pushing forward to support Max Bretherton, who caused lots of problems for Nomads, before pouncing on a loose ball and finishing well to pull one back. James Hart worked hard in defence to block all the Nomads attacks and with the support and excellent performance of Ryan Hastewell denied Nomads.

A great ball from Camper released Bretherton who cut inside to beat the defence and crossed to find Edwards who curled the ball round the keeper to level the game at 2-2. Banwell should have then put the game out of reach with a shot that hit the post and several shots that were cleared off the line. Jack Partridge had played well in goal but could do nothing to stop two late goals from Nomads against the run of play to give them a 4-2 win.

The Cube @ Morse's man of the match went to Max Bretherton. Special mention for Ryan Hastewell for a strong performance in defence.

The B team played Nomads B in a match that was messy at the start with no consistency from either team. Ben Meakin was in great form saving some good shots. Kaan Berk caused a lot of problems in attack with his pace, but the Banwell boys struggled to control the midfield with Steven Baker and Matthew Gilmore not able to have any time on the ball and Harrison Giles unable to pick out a Banwell player ahead of him and this resulted in Milton Nomads taking the lead.

A number of changes were made with Thomas Galliers coming on in defence and Joel Wills in midfield. This had an immediate impact with a great goal from Joel Wills to level the game.

Jamie Jenkins moved to midfield to steady the ship, working hard to dominate possession and start off an attack. Berk eventually got the goal he had been threatening, to give Banwell the lead. Ben Vernon was in excellent form making some vital tackles in defence.

Nomads got another goal to level the game before Banwell stepped up their game for the last five minutes and were rewarded with a late goal by Steven Baker to win the game 3-2

The Cube @ Morse's man of the match went to Ben Vernon for some great tackles with special mention to Joel Wills for an outstanding game in midfield.

CHEDDAR Under-9 B lost 6-1 to Portishead B in the third round of the cup. The visitors' higher position in the league suggested this would be a tough match, but the early play saw strong runs from Cheddar's Joe Bracewell and Sam Catling, forcing the Portishead keeper to scramble off his line.

Within minutes a pinpoint delivery from William Britt found Bracewell in space, and he took full advantage with a pass into the area, allowing captain James King to put the home team ahead off a post. Cheddar continued to have the best of the play in the next period, with the defensive pairing of Lewis Frost and Fintan Carroll putting in a string of robust blocks.

It looked for a while like Cheddar might extend their lead towards the end of the first half, but their hopes were dashed by a scrappy equaliser followed within a minute by a superbly taken strike into the top corner, leaving the home side trailing at the break.

Portishead showed their mettle in the second half, using the full width of the pitch to put together a series of well crafted build-ups which frustrated the efforts of Cheddar substitutes Morris, Poyner and Welchman, and asked too much of the home team's excellent keeper Cameron McColm. Cheddar B's player of the match was Fintan Carroll.

CRUSADERS Under-14s got off to a slow start, looking pretty rusty from the enforced break and soon found themselves 1-0 down to a bizarre goal, when stand-in goalkeeper Billy Morrissey was blinded by the sun and was unable to see the ball.

Crusaders midfield of Mike Dancer, Ryan Elkins, Joe Godfrey, Cyrus Molton and Mike Hosey were finding it difficult to gain control, against a well-organised Kewstoke side and the first half ended with Crusaders trailing.

The half-time talk had an immediate effect as Crusaders started the second half on the front foot. The pace of James Lawrence and Kieren White was causing problems for the visitors who defended strongly.

With Crusaders pushing forward in search of an equaliser, the defence of Callum Climo, Jack Bridgman, Tom Light and Callum Wilson had to be aware of the counter attack. While Crusaders created a number of chances with good crosses from Kieren White and a long-range effort from Ryan Elkins, the closest they came to scoring was when James Lawrence hit the crossbar. It just was not to be Crusaders day and the match ended 1-0 to Kewstoke.

Formula First man of the match was awarded to Callum Wilson. Thanks to Kewstoke for a hard fought game well refereed by John Billingshurst.

PRIORY Rangers Under-11s beat Clevedon United Colts 3-2 and started brightly, opening the scoring inside five minutes thanks to an Ian Bebb close-range shot.

Some slick passing kept Priory on top and gave keeper and captain Harry Abbotts a quiet first half. A Ross Radford free kick saw his goal tally for the season go up to 10.

Priory were beginning to look tired after a long lay-off and conceded a goal from a rare Clevedon attack, but within two minutes they grabbed a second.

From the restart, Priory pushed everyone forward and passed the ball around well in attack. Tireless running by Zac Davies caused an error in the Clevedon defence, allowing Tom Ogbourne to grab the winner with the last kick of the game.

Sandra's Hair Salon man of the match award went to Alex Jefferies for a solid defensive display.