Hungerford Sink the Boatmen

It was an excellent first half display from Hungerford who were on top from the first whistle. Elis Watts almost scored a superb individual goal after five minutes but his shot was saved by Sholing keeper Ryan Gosney. Hungerford won a penalty after 10 minutes after a handball. Conor McDonagh stepped up but Gosney saved brilliantly pushing the shot wide. Sam De St Croix was first to react and looped the ball back into the six yard box where Adulai Sambu was first on the scene to react to head in the rebound.

Watts was causing havoc down the right hand side and after 26 minutes he setup McDonagh in the box who this time made no mistake with a cool side footed finish past Gosney. Gosney though continued to make saves notably from Joe Shepherd and Watts again to keep the score to only 2-0 at half time. It was a superb first half display though from Hungerford.

The home side started the second half in much the same vain as the with McDonagh again forcing Gosney into a good save when he broke free of the defence. Sholing’s manager Paul Doswell was showing his frustrations with his side and was shown a red card for his protests at referee Mitchell Terry on the hour

The games momentum turned though in the 68th minute when Ramarni Medford-Smith received a red card for a late challenge on Keane Anderson. Hungerford switched to a more defensive style after the red card and the ten men held out almost until the end when Daniel Mason pulled one back but it was not enough for the Boatmen.

It was an afternoon where most things worked out for Hungerford including the much maligned scoreboard which put in a 90 minute display of its own its first of the season!!

Team : Clarke, Paget, Medford-Smith, Berry-Hargreaves (c), Jarra, Gardiner-Smith, Shepherd, De St Croix (Lopes), Watts (Wright), McDonagh, Sambu (Stanley)
Subs Not used : Dugan, Thorne
Attendance 392
Star Man - Jacob Gardiner-Smith