It’s the 6th of August and who can believe that Cullompton were playing their second game of the season, which is more confusing as they have no game next Saturday.
Anyway they were faced with an away game against Bishops Lydeard on Tuesday evening.
From the kick off, Cullompton continued the form they showed on Saturday, coming close with a couple of early efforts on goal. Unlike Saturday, the home team proved to be a tougher nut to crack. They could have opened the scoring having a snap shot well saved by keeper, Will Howard.
Cullompton took the lead on 20 minutes when good play between Aiden and Lloyd White, saw Aiden tap in from a few yards.
Cullompton were well on top and could have increased their lead several times, but for the alert positioning of the home keeper. However, he could do nothing about Cullompton’s second goal, when a cross from the right saw Aiden turn the ball into the roof of the net.
The turning point in the game came after 40 minutes when former player Joe Wilkinson, (whose contribution to the game thus far was several dubious tackles), and George Russell were involved in a scuffle, resulting in both players being booked. How the linesman – 2 yards from the incident – didn’t see the home forward throw a punch, is beyond me.
Minutes later George made a silly tackle, breaking up an attack, giving the referee no option but to send him off. The manager responded by taking off Zac Williams and replacing him with a defender in Leo Baraball. Moments later the ref blew for half time.
The second half began with the home team dominating, searching for an early goal. It wasn’t long before they scored from a cross goal shot, parried by Will, only for a home forward to turn the ball home. Not what Cullompton wanted.
From the restart Cullompton began to press the home defence, and should have increased their lead, when Aiden was clean through, only to shoot tamely at the keeper. Cullompton to their credit battled well, and were seeing the game out without much trouble. The back four blocked out any attacks, with the midfield working tirelessly. Unfortunately a routine punt into the Cullompton area took a few deflections before ironically falling to Wilkinson to stab home the equaliser.
There were no further alarms before the referee blew for full time. Final score 2-2. Overall Cullompton played well, and will continue with this confidence.
Rev the roving reporter
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