Barnstaple Town Home 18th Oct ’14

Keynsham Town 0-6 Barnstaple Town
Les Phillips Cup
AJN Stadium
18/10/14

By Mark Tanner

This game had everything you could want from a lower league cup tie, a sending off, plenty of goals, no team sheet and a goal keeper getting MOTM despite letting in 6!

 

The Crown Field faithful at the AJN Stadium knew they would be in for a long afternoon as Barnstaple came flying out of the blocks. Recent signing Ashley Wintle made his debut in the Keynsham goal and pulled off a great save from a free header inside the 6 yard box. However he could do nothing about the first goal on 6 minutes when number 4 nudged player manager Chris King out of the way for a free header from a long free kick. This lack of tracking their runners left Keynsham with all sorts of problems with Wintle pulling off another decent save; this time from number 5’s free header from yet another free kick.

On 14 minutes number 11 got free of the defence for a one on one but Wintle made a diving low save to deny the winger. King was then booked two minutes later for tackle from behind as Keynsham were being undone time after time. The Barnstaple number 9 should have made it 2-0 when he latched on to 10’s flick on but his finish was wide. The two teams then battled hard for ten minutes or so with Keynsham slowing gaining some sort of foothold on the game.

However on 32 minutes King received his marching orders with a late challenge in the middle of the park with the Barnstaple players and officials erupting. Number 2 stayed down for treatment until the second yellow was shown but was then running full pelt just a moment later. Keynsham didn’t fold immediately and it took Barnstaple until the stroke of half time to score again to make it 2-0. Number 5 was allowed too much time to turn and shoot in the area after controlling the ball from a corner; giving Wintle no chance.

Keynsham had it all to do in the second half but got off to the worse possible start. Number 10 made it 3-0 after just a minutes play. A long free kick was allowed to bounce after some hesitant defending allowing 10 to poke the ball home. The ten men of Keynsham did try and apply themselves to create opportunities but offered little going forward and often giving away cheap free kicks. Young reserve player Jack Sheppard made his senior debut on 51 minutes to try and add a spark going forward for the tiring Kyle Box.

Barnstaple added a fourth on 56 minutes from a good attacking move with 7 linking up with 9. Again he was given too much time on the ball in the 6 yard box and turned and finished well. Aaron Marshall then made his first appearance of the season coming on for Scott Brain which temporarily steadied the back line.

Unfortunately Barnstaple were just two strong over the whole 90 minutes and added two more in the last 5 minutes of the game. Number 4 got his second goal with the best goal of the afternoon. He managed to receive the ball on the edge of the box and draw in two defender only to show them some quick feet to jinx himself into a yard of space to finish well. The final goal was another quick attacking move whereby 7 got to the by-line to pull it back across the 6 yard box with a line of Barnstaple players waiting for it. After one miss 11 managed the easy tap in at the far post with Wintle stranded at the near post.

“My sending off made it up hill task for lads, though it was a bit harsh.” said Chris King after the game. “They (Keynsham) showed fighting spirit against a good Barnstaple side who will do well this season in our league.”

 

Keynsham Town: Ashley Wintle, Ryan Beak, Scott Brain (69mins Aaron Marshall), Ben Stiff, Mark Branton, Rob Sheriton, Kyle Box (51mins Jack Sheppard), Chris King, Pat Davison, Matt Curnock, Jordan Hawkins

MOTM – Wintle – Could have been a lot more in the first half in the new signing hadn’t been alert to the danger.

Are you reading this from Barnstaple? Get in touch with your team sheet and goal scorers from the game. Best of luck for the rest of the season, you put on a great display for your travelling fans!

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