Five star Langford

Langford Rovers 5

Rovers 5

Odd Down Res 1

LANGFORD Rovers kicked their Somerset County Premier Division season off with a five star performance against their Bath rivals.

Rovers were solid from the start and with new signing Callum McManus and Leigh White providing constant danger down the flanks, chances were being created.

It took a White corner to create the opener midway through the first period, his older namesake scoring with a bullet header.

With James Marshall and Adi Marshman proving a solid back pairing in front of debutant keeper Matt Hill, Rovers got to half-time one up and playing well.

The second period started slowly, but Rovers began to take control of midfield again with Joe Ellis and man of the match Ryan Harris in fine form.

Still creating chances, Rovers weren’t completely firing in front of goal with Levi Marlow going close as well as Aaron Blakemore. The latter then sprang into life with two clinical finishes in the space of seven minutes.

Kyle Havard started the move for Rovers fourth, with Ryan Havard crossing and White’s mis-hit shot rebounding off a defender for an own goal.

Blakemore grabbed his hat-trick soon after in style, rifling home from 20 yards. Shortly before the end, the visitors saw a mis-hit cross evade Hill for a consolation. Rovers will be hoping to take this form into a busy set of early season fixtures.

Weston St Johns 4

Bishops Lydeard 2

THE introduction of James Bennelick as manager and Ricky Adams as coach saw a well-organised Saints come from behind twice and going on to win the game comfortably.

Five minutes into the match, Ryan Hawkins’ low shot produced a good save from the opposition keeper. A throw-in from the left led to Bishops Lydeard’s forward breaking through on St John’s keeper Ian Awnshaw, with defender Dean Pearson coming from behind to give away a penalty which was put away with ease.

Just before the break, Rob Winter closed down a poor back pass rounded the keeper and fired home into an empty net.

Another poor tackle in the box gave the visitors a second penalty on the hour, which again was converted. Five minutes later, Adams put Hawkins through and after a clever one-two with Clarke, Hawkins fired home the equaliser.

Clark was involved again making a good run, beating two defenders before squaring the ball to Troy Hayes who scored from a acute angle off the crossbar. Hawkins completed the scoring from the spot after Winter had been brought down by the visitors keeper.

Special mention to debutant centre-back Mike Hudson and full-back Chris Combes, who played well, but the M & S Carpentry man of the match went to Ashley Flavell.

Middlezoy Rovers 2

Winscombe 4

WINSCOMBE travelled to Middlezoy Rovers and came away with an excellent 4-2 victory.

Under the new management team of Horwood, Bradford and Barker, Winscombe started well, but found themselves 1-0 down. This could easily have been 2-0, but for Tim Paiges’ excellent penalty save.

Straight from that save, Winscombe stormed to the other end and Kerry Sleeman scored from 20 yards. They took control again and were rewarded with a goal from Jamie Foncette.

Middlezoy came at Winscombe at the start of the second half and scored through a defensive mix-up. Winscombe then asserted themselves and gradually took control when after some good work by Mike Flint and Simon Wills, Ash Mason scored.

They scored again when Flint was rewarded for his tireless running up front by scoring to make it 4-2. They could have scored more as the home defence tired, the best chance going to young Ryan Mason on his first team debut, but he put it over the bar with only the keeper to beat.

Lawrence Massey, Dave Hughes, Dan Horwood and Kerry Sleeman were all superb in an excellent team performance.

Congresbury 3

Wells City Res 2

CONGRESBURY opened their season with a good result against a strong Wells side.

Congresbury started the brighter and took a deserved early lead when Tony Tuckfield sent Ross Stockhall clear and he beat the keeper with a well-placed shot. Congresbury doubled the lead when Stockhall set up Tuckfield to score.

Congresbury defenders Ollie Clements, Sam Clements, Dan Pepworth and Moe Lister were having comfortable games against the Wells strikers and keeper Danny Bullock was in control.

Congresbury continued to dominate and Ben Marsh, Tuckfield and Stockhall all had good chances saved by the keeper and Stockhall hit the post.

The Wells keeper was having an excellent game and he pulled off a superb save from Danny Sprague’s penalty to leave the half-time score 2-0.

Wells came out fired up for the second half and reduced the deficit with a close range strike following a free-kick. Minutes later Congresbury gave away another free-kick and this time it was headed from close-range to make the score 2-2.

With only minutes left and Congresbury searching for a winner, they got a corner and took it short to Marsh who was brought down for a penalty. Tuckfield drilled his shot low into the corner of the net to seal the win 3-2. Player of the match was Tony Tuckfield.

Wrington-Redhill 4

Burnham Utd 1

WRINGTON-Redhill travelled to Burnham United and returned home with all three points.

The visitors should have taken the lead after 10 minutes when Graham Cheeseman was wrestled to the ground, but the resultant penalty saw home keeper Tizziano save Neil Andow’s spot kick.

Both goalkeepers made important saves to keep the scores level, until Cheeseman headed home from a Craig Burchill corner.

The second half started well with Andow heading home after two minutes. Burnham threatened in patches, but resolute defending from captain Callum Fisher and man of the match Jake Murray stemmed the tide, helped by Saadi’s timely interventions.

Wrington’s third goal was a peach with the lively Cheeseman dummying a Burnham defender and chipping the impressive Tizziano from 12 yards.

Burnham pulled back a scrambled consolation, but Wrington sealed victory with a far post header from Tom Johnson after brilliant play from Andow,

Wrington-Redhill travelled to the West Midlands in the third of their pre-season friendlies to take on Midland Combination club Earlswood Town.

A free-flowing skilful encounter saw the away side win 4-0 with goals by Graham Cheeseman, Neil Andow and new signing Joe Weedon.

Later in the evening, the club were guests at a champagne reception at the Laurent Perrier Champagne Bar at Birmingham’s prestigious social venue The Cube, hosted by Nick Taplin, vice-president, sponsor and supporter.

Action from the game, with Wrington going close from a corner.

Devizes Town 3

Cheddar 4

CHEDDAR travelled for their first game in Western League football and were missing a number of key players.

Devizes took an early lead, but Cheddar gradually started to come into the game as George Booth and Mike Kay asserted themselves on the middle of the park. Lewis Matthews and 17-year-old Matt Connick were becoming a threat in the wide positions and after 20 minutes Matthews equalised.

Cheddar were now well on top and took the lead when Matthews scored from a free kick. Cheddar upped the tempo and Wayne Scorse became a driving force, bringing in the attacking full-backs, Alex Brandrick and Dave Phillips as Devizes were pounded from every angle.

Cheddar extended their lead when a Billy Manning free kick found Connick on the penalty spot and the youngster headed home.

Cheddar scored soon after the break when Matthews recorded his first senior hat-trick, latching onto an Adam Davies’ long ball. Devizes grabbed a goal back and put Cheddar under pressure.

Devizes made it 4-3 with three minutes to go, but the Cheesemen celebrated their first win in the Toolstation League, taking them to a lofty fourth in the table.