Following last Sundays defeat, Avonmouth were eager for the next match to get the result out of their system, & what a game to have – a midweek trip to play Bristol City JSC. Last season City completed a deserved magical treble in wining the AYL division 1 championship, the AY Cup & also the Gloucester Cup. Avonmouth were boosted with the first appearance of goalkeeper Ryan Scott and the return of Prevan Rajh & Sam Eastwood who were both unavailable for the Yate game.
You could tell from the first few minutes that the Avonmouth boys were ready for this match and they started on the front foot looking for an early goal. After 7 minutes they almost took the lead, when from a perfectly floated Eastwood free kick, Mitch Harris headed narrowly wide of the post. This woke City up & shortly afterwards Scott had to make a good save from an angled shot & was then relieved to see a header from a dangerous free kick go wide. However, Avonmouth began to gain control of midfield & it was no surprise when they took the lead. On 22 minutes Sam Reynolds was fouled & from the resultant free kick, Eastwood stepped up to place an unstoppable shot high into the net. The away side now looked threatening & after 28 minutes where unlucky not to go two up when, after great play by Reynolds, a tremendous shot by Harris hit the bar. However, the deserved second goal was not long in coming. Following great play by strikers Harris & Reynolds the ball came to James Skelton in acres of space on the right. He ran at the City defence & at the right moment hit his shot past the keeper, which then came off the post & into the net. The Avonmouth players where in dreamland but where brought back to earth when only a few minutes later City got a goal back. The City keeper hit a high ball into the Avonmouth half & as it came to Justin Wilkinson, a long way out from the goal, there appeared to be no danger. However, he perfectly chipped the ball over Scott & into the net. Avonmouth responded well & got a third goal just before half time. Alex Wilkins won the ball in midfield & carried on out to the left hand side of the pitch. As he looked for support there appeared to be no danger, however he suddenly cut inside, used his strength to get past a couple of defenders & from a tight angle slid the ball past the advancing keeper into the net. At half time the Avonmouth boys deserved their applause they received following a great half of football.
Half Time: Bristol City JSC 1 Avonmouth 3
Avonmouth had to expect City to come out fighting in the second half & straight from the kick off they created an opening but the shot from outside the box went just over the bar. The next goal was going to be crucial & immediately following the City attack, Avonmouth went down the other end & got their fourth. On the left hand side of the penalty box Rajh saw his shot blocked & with City unable to clear to safety the ball finally fell to Reynolds, who from close in saw his low shot squeeze pass the keeper & into the net. To have got such an early goal & stretch the lead meant it was now going to be tough for City to get back into the match. However, they are not champions for nothing & they had various attempts at goal & the Avonmouth defence had to work hard to keep them out. Despite this, keeper Scott had to make 4 great saves to prevent any further City goals & to keep the game safe for the away side. Avonmouth continued to also attack but could not create any further clear goal scoring chances, only having a few half chances. The hard work had already been done & when the final whistle went Avonmouth had earned their great victory.
The Avonmouth performance today was of the highest quality & was one of the best ever by the club. It was true that for various reasons City had players missing but that should not take anything away from this win. Every team will not be able to have their players available all of the time, as we experienced in our defeat at Yate. However, what we proved today was that when all our players are available to play we maybe a match for anyone in this league. With Ryan in goal this allowed Sam to play up front & along with strike partner Mitch Harris the two of them together caused problems all evening for the City defence. This performance & victory should give the boys great confidence for the rest of the season – well done to everyone.
Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE
Style Definitions table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";}
Full Time: Bristol City JSC 1 Avonmouth 4
