After the long Christmas & New Year break, it was great to be back playing football & we headed off today to play away against Bitton, who are another long established Division 1 team. They currently lie in the bottom half of the table having mixed results so far this season but we knew that we would be in for a hard game & needed to be at our best to gain any points from the match.
From the start Bitton were on the front foot but despite having all the possession they did not have any meaningful attempts on goal. After surviving this early pressure Avonmouth clawed their way into the game & created the first real chance when a Jack Hewlett free kick was headed just over the bar by Mitch Harris. On 20 minutes, a Bitton corner was only cleared to the edge of the box when a home player struck a lovely crisp shot towards goal but fortunately for the away side Aaron Davies was in the right place to clear the ball to safety. Five minutes later, a Sam Eastwood free kick went just wide of the Bitton post. During this period there were several hard / tough tackles going in from both sides but all were fair & none done with any malice. On 34 minutes came the all important but controversial first goal. An excellent Prevan Rajh corner was swung into the box & was headed towards goal by James Skelton, but suddenly a Bitton player stuck out his hand pushing the ball clear. Despite the Bitton linesman insisting the ball had not gone over the line the referee awarded a goal. This was probably better for the home team as the referee would have had to send off the offending player & Avonmouth would have had a penalty. No more chances were created & the away side came off at half time with a slender lead.
Half Time: Bitton AFC 0 Avonmouth 1
In the first minute of the second half, Skelton found himself in space on the right hand side & put in a lovely cross which eventually fell to Montel Riches whose first time shot brought a tremendous save from the Bitton keeper, but five minutes later the home side had their best chance of the match. Avonmouth did not clear the ball away from danger & following a couple of ricochets the ball suddenly fell to a Bitton striker but with only keeper Ryan Scott to beat, he put his shot agonisingly wide of the post. For the rest of the match Bitton had a large percentage possession of the match but could not create any real opportunities to score. The Avonmouth defence were resolute & withstood everything thrown at them with excellent tackles, blocks, challenges & headers. The only time Bitton looked dangerous was with their set piece routines but each time, keeper Scott was a match for everything that was sent in against him. There was a lot of injury time which seemed to go on for ever but eventually the referee blew his whistle & Avonmouth had hung on for a hard fought but deserved win.
Today could be recognised as a first for the club. In previous seasons we have always mainly relied on our ability to create and put chances away to score plenty of goals to win matches however, today we saw something different. All of the defence (& keeper) were outstanding, helped out by the midfield & strikers, who all worked tirelessly to keep hold of the one goal lead. Everyone helped each other out in a great team performance in what was a very hard & tough match – well done to everyone.
Full Time: Bitton AFC 0 Avonmouth 1
