Wells denied in last minute

Wells travelled to Worle full of confidence on the back of last week’s Senior Cup win hoping to take the form into the league. In blustery conditions on a tacky pitch Wells had the better of the early exchanges. Darren Maynard shooting just wide on 5 minutes and again coming close on 10 minutes. On 30 minutes Worle had their first real chance when a speculative cross come shot was met by the advancing striker but Mike Roper was equal to it and made a great save low to his left. On 39 minutes a loose ball on the edge of the Worle box fell at the feet of captain Dan Catley and he hit an unstoppable shot on the half volley to give Wells the lead. From the kick off Worle again put the Wells defence under pressure and brought out the best in Mike Roper again with a superb one handed save.
The second half started brightly for Wells with the away side dealing with the conditions better. Chances started to come with efforts from Olly Edwards and Scott Hurley. On 60 minutes Steve Emery was replaced by James Russell and Wells reverted to 4-4-2. On 75 minutes Olly Edwards was replaced by Olly Bryant to give Wells renewed energy. But 2 minutes chaos ensued when the Worle No9 appeared to head butt Dan Catley, but once the melee had calmed down the referee decided that it was only worthy of a yellow card. The final substitution seen Liam Chant replaced by Joe Grant who immediately used his long throw as an extra attacking option but still Wells couldn’t find that elusive second goal. Wells were then denied two penalties in quick succession when Scott Hurley was upended on both occasions only for the ref to wave play on. Then, with what appeared to be 5 minutes remaining and to the astonishment of the Wells management the referee signalled 14 minutes additional time. With 1 minute remaining Worle were given a dubious corner which was swung in using the wind only for it to come off the back of a Wells defenders head and give Worle the equaliser.
Man of the Match – Mike Roper
After the match manager Mark Phipps said “This wasn’t a bad display given the conditions but was gutting that they scored that late in the game. To say the referee had an indifferent game is an understatement, how somebody can appear to head butt someone and not be sent off is beyond me. We would have taken a point at the start of play, but this was 2 points dropped not a point gained”