The busy period for the First XI started on Tuesday night with a 3-2 home win against Keynsham Town.
We largely dominated proceedings in the first half of the match and fashioned a couple of early chances with striker Steve Murray prominent.
Murray's strike partner, Dan Webb opened the scoring around midway into the half. His speculative shot was curled from the edge of the box and deceived the keeper as it went past him to nestle in the left hand corner of his net.
The lead was extended prior to half time by our captain, Ryan Crouch. A Lewis Waldy corner was laid back to Josh Bennett, who delivered it into the box for Crouch to head home.
In the second half, Keynsham were much livelier than Cribbs and they applied a lot of pressure. A goal eventually came after 15 minutes or so of the half. Striker Ade Harvey fired a shot from the edge of the box and it was parried by our goalkeeper, Fraser McDiarmid. Unfortunately, he couldn't stop it from dropping into the net as he fell backwards after making the save.
Largely against the run of play, we snatched a third goal through Ed Harrison to restore the two goal cushion. Not long after this Keynsham were reduced to ten men after their goalscorer put in a late challenge on Harrison. This didn't stop Keynsham being in the ascendancy and they set-up a nailbiting final fifteen minutes with a second goal from a goalmouth scramble.
Our defence stood firm to ensure the second home win on the trot, sending us into Saturday's encounter with Brislington in good heart.
There was no hangover from Tuesday's jaded second half and we came straight out of the blocks with an early goal. A fine ball from Bennett at right back to George Kellow on the left wing opened up some space behind the Brislington defence which he managed to exploit. A cross into he box was headed towards goal by Murray and though blocked, the rebound fell his way and he smashed home with aplomb.
We continued to trouble Brislington with our pace going forward and could have extended the lead before the second goal was forthcoming from a corner. Spiller played it short to the onrushing Bennett, who this time sent the cross towards our other centre half, Ross McErlain and his towering header found the back of the net. Harrison should have extended our lead to three before half time, but didn't make a good connection and flashed his free header wide.
Just like Keynsham, our opponents came out for the second half with greater intent, but our side's energy levels remained strong and they failed to craft many clear cut chances. We had plenty of opportunities to extend our lead, but a mixture of good goalkeeping and poor finishing kept the score at two nil.
The chance Brislington were waiting for came after their keeper saved a shot from substitute Jack McKenna and then set a counter attack in motion. The away side worked the ball into our box and their player was tripped to give them an opportunity from the spot. The penalty taker sent Fraser the wrong way, but smashed the ball against the bar with a resounding thud.
This broke Brislington's resolve and we saw the game out without any further scares. This sets us up for another home game on Tuesday against visitors from Devon, in the form of Buckland Athletic. They have played thirteen league games so far this season, winning and losing five apiece and drawing the other three. This should be another good test of our progress.
The club's other Saturday sides continued their good start to the season with three wins.
The Reserves travelled to Pucklechurch and came away on the positive side of a seven goal thriller. The goals coming from Dan Burgan (2), Jack Guthrie and James Clayton. They currently sit fourth in the Bristol Premier Combination League's top division. Seven points behind the leaders Winterbourne with two games in hand.
The A Team led by Andy Watts, not by Colonel Hannibal Smith, are currently sitting in third position after extending their 100% record to a third match of the season with a 5-3 victory against Oldland Abbots A team. Veteran Andy Capon led the way with the first two goals and another two came from top scorer Dave Duru. A rare strike from the Judith Chalmers of Cribbs FC, Alex Crane completed things.
The 4th XI picked up their first win of the season in another seven goal thriller over at Westerleigh. The three points came courtesy of a double from Kieron Jenkins plus further goals from Morgan Jones and Lewis Alderman.
Sunday was a day of rest for the Veterans team, but the Under-18s slipped to their first league defeat of the season losing three nil to Rockleaze.
Look forward to seeing a few of you on Tuesday night.
UTC
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