COUNTRYMAN'S REPORT:
With key players missing from both starting line-ups, it was going to be tricky for both sides to show consistency. Unfortunately it was Puriton who seemed the more settled side, taking revenge on the home defeat inflicted by the Countrymen a couple of weeks ago.
Darryl Taylor opened the scoring following a piercing run through the centre of the Countryman's defence, lifting the ball neatly over the keeper and finishing into the open goal.
Puriton's lead was doubled towards half time following a fine run down the left and excellent cut back for a good team goal.
The interval brought about changes from the Countrymen, which improved things slightly. Puriton still looked dangerous on the break though and scored a third goal following a defensive mix up.
Countryman grabbed a consolation late on from the penalty spot, scored by Steve Shepherd.
A deserved win for Puriton, and an end to a good run of results for the Countryman.
PURITON'S REPORT:
Puriton United started brightly in the first few minutes with Dan Jennings & Darryl Taylor both going close but hitting their shots just wide.
In the eleventh minute Dean Taylor went past two Countryman players to cross for his dad Darryl but he could not convert his header into a goal.
On fifteen minutes Countryman had their first attack on goal but United centre-back Lee Harvey made a fantastic tackle to keep them at bay. In the twenty-fifth minute Matt Holt had the ball in his own half and put a fantastic ball over the top of the Countryman defence to put Darryl Taylor through on goal and what a goal it was with a great lob over the keeper from twenty yards.
After the goal Countryman came alive and started to put some pressure on but Lee Harvey & Craig Evans made some brilliant tackles to keep them out. However, in the thirty-fourth minute Countryman's number ten got past the Puriton defence and put a shot in towards goal. It looked to be a comfortable save for 'keeper Nathan Gill but he dropped it right in front of Countryman's number seven and from only a yard out he managed to put the ball wide when it was easier to score.
In the fortieth minute Rich Harvey ran past two players and then, with a Zindane-like flick over a third, put a telling pass onto Darryl Taylor who took it past two more players in the penalty box and dragged the ball back for Daniel Jennings to slide the ball home from ten yards for a 2-0 lead.
This was Dan's first full start for United after previous appearances from the subs bench, and it was his second ever goal in men's football after opening his account a couple of weeks ago.
In the second half Dan Jennings came off for Lee Mitchell to make a comeback and he soon had a great chance to score but missed the ball completely. Then, from a Deano Taylor cross, Mitchell missed the ball again when he should have put it in the back of the net. I think the nerves were creeping in for him because he wanted that goal so badly.
In the seventy-fifth minute Paul Hancock made a brilliant tackle in the centre of midfield and played a good ball to Ryan Williams and the stage was set for Ryan to score what was to be an incredible strike from thirty-yards out at a tight angle into the top left-hand corner.
Puriton went on to miss a number of other chances and could have been six or seven up until Countryman's number eight was fouled in the box by Ben Pollard and the ref pointed to the spot.
Up stepped Countryman's Steve Shepherd to smash home and make the final score 3-1.
We could not split the man of the match award so it was shared between Craig Evans and captain Lee Harvey.
(Story First Published: 29.11.04) |
