Halloween horror show.....

This Halloween saw a horror 20 minutes spell which saw Wells crash out of the Dimmock cup, after being well in the game for long periods of time. With several regular players being away through promotion into the reserves, away with work or on the under 18 football tour, Wells City A team were left with 12 players, who included the management and those 12 can count them hard done by, as their effort and performance in spells didn’t warrant a loss of 3 goal margin.

The game started very competitively as both teams battled tirelessly for a foot hold in the game. Kicking up the slope, wells forced the issue and after 15 minutes a Stephen Griffin header was saved by the Coleford Keeper. Moments later, a Ryan Morris free kick caused havoc in the Coleford penalty area, but no one was on hand to tap the ball home after a Kieron White flick. The clearest opening came from White, who hit a fiercely struck free kick, which skimmed the cross bar. Wells’ final chance came as Morris delivered another free kick, only for Rob Turner to somehow miss the ball completely. In these tight games, chances came few and far between, and so not taking them gave Coleford confidence that they were still in the tie. Just before half time, Coleford went one up as a shot from the left winger was brilliant saved by Keeper Johnson, only for his rebound to fall at the unmarked striker to tap home, with the Wells defenders looking for a flag that never came.

At half time, Wells’ belief that they could get something from the game was emphasised by manager Morris, but what turned out for the 2nd half was a different side that played so well in the 1st. An incredibly soft 2nd was conceded as the Coleford number 14, who was a real handful when he came on, wriggled passed Morris, Lester and Wickham to score from a tight angle. Moments later it was 3, albeit from unfortunate circumstances as the winger sent in a cross only for it to deflect off the luckless Andy Goswell to see the ball loop over keeper Johnson into the far top corner. Wells looked like they ran out of ideas, and were relying on White to produce something to get them back into the game, but the lack of attacking support meant Coleford were able to deal with everything Wells had to offer. With 10 minutes remaining Wells were awarded a penalty as Arron Wickham broke out of the defence, skipping passed 2 players and unleashing a shot which could be only parried by the Coleford keeper. The rebound fell to White, who was brought down by the left back, who was on a yellow card at the time and on another could’ve received another yellow. Wickham stepped up and slot the ball into the bottom corner. 2 minutes later it could’ve have been 3-2 as White raced through only to be denied by an excellent stop from the Coleford Keeper. Moments later, Coleford was awarded a penalty of their own as a challenge from Wickham and Griffin was deemed a foul from the referee, this was dispatched ending any hope of a comeback for Wells A.

Wells manager Morris stated after that the ‘lack of options from the bench didn’t help matters especially when we needed an injection of pace to cause the back four of Coleford problems. We build from the positives and try to improve our defensive display as much as possible because the better teams at the moment are punishing us for errors at both ends of the field.’ Morris went on to say that ‘numbers should be up for the league showdown this weekend with Matt Davidson, Tom Tibbs and Brandon Lenarduzzi returning and we are looking to blood a few of the under 18s in this weekend, in particular the impressive Finn Lacy, Luke Plunkett, Aidan Ellis and Ed Jackson, who should give us slight cutting edge in the final third and improve things defensively.’