WESTBURY UNITED 2 OLDLAND ABBOTS 0

Goals from Francois Allen and Daniel Moore in the second half gave the green and whites their sixth win of the season against an O's side that have now gone five games without a win. For 75 minutes, the visitors were the better side and fashioned more chances but in the end, James Goddard's side took all three points.

Oldland went into the game missing attackers David Stone and Karim Rendall through illness and injury along with defender Jordan Richards. But it was another defender, Ali Bamford, who had the first sight of goal, shooting at home keeper Ben Forester.

Mike Coll in the Westbury defence was the first player to be shown a yellow card when he pulled down Paul Coles and on eleven minutes, Tom Morgan had the ball in the United net but it was bafflingly ruled out for a handball by the Oldland player.

Oldland were comfortably the better side in the first period, totting up eight corners before the break but failing to really test Forester in goal. Morgan's shot was blocked before Bamford fired the follow up over and Jack Boughton also shot at goal but his was deflected wide.

Morgan then came close with a shot that flew wide as he was leaning back and Boughton came very close with a free kick from thirty yards that curled wide. As the half closed, Oldland had a clear shout for a penalty when Ryan Dunn was taken out in the box but nothing was given.

The second half began with Dunn's shot blocked after a counter attack but Westbury went straight up the other end and took the lead on fifty minutes when Francois Allen slipped the ball past Ben Reed in the Oldland goal. Reed then came into his own with three smart saves parrying from Josh Ferguson's shot then catching a lob from Daniel Moore. His third save was the pick and kept Oldland in it, denying Tony McElhone after Allen had set him up.

On the hour mark, Ali Bamford became the third Oldland player to be booked when he was flattened by a push from a Westbury player (yes, you did read that right!). A minute later, O's manager Dale Dempsey shuffled his pack, withdrawing Paul Coles and Matt Curnock and throwing on Jack Parker and Josh Williams to play on both flanks.

Jordan Greenwood then picked up a nasty looking injury in a clash of heads with a Westbury player that necessitated lengthy treatment and a head bandage for the centre half. Oldland temporarily switched to a back three with the man down but they almost grabbed a deserved equaliser when Boughton's far post cross found Jack parker whose volley found the midriff of Forester.

The centre midfield partnership of Boughton and Robson both came close to levelling the score with efforts that went narrowly wide but with eight minutes remaining, the killer second Westbury goal arrived following a defensive error that saw Moore poke into the net.

Late on, Morgan was tugged back as he got past Coll on the edge of the box but no decision was forthcoming. With two minutes of normal time left, it would have been a tall order for the O's to take anything from the game even had they scored and they now head to Wells City on Tuesday night hoping to reverse the slump in form.

With thanks to our hosts today, you can view a gallery from today's match at the following link...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/downlands/sets/72157661793048153