Whitchurch Men’s 1s 5 - Neston Men’s 5s 1

Whitchurch returned to winning ways this week with a tough game against Neston 5s, who brought a number of quick, young players with them.

The hosts started well enough, and the defence were able to nullify the Neston attacks well enough, and Paul Leigh in goal was only called on a couple of times in the first half. Whitchurch finally got the ball up to the Neston dee and Jack Barnes got a great cross in to Ben Kimberley who put the ball away. This was followed soon after with Kimberley’s second of the game, with a good strike on the reverse stick beating the keeper for a 2-0 lead.

Whitchurch played their worst 15 minutes of this season with poor play throughout and remained in front only because of Neston's lack of a final touch. A change in formation allowed Ben Fry, Dale Seymour, Rob Chappell and Tom Leonard to move the ball around with much more freedom, and Kimberley and Peter Scales were able to get runs going down the wings which stretch the Neston defence and shifted the balance of the game back in Whitchurch’s favour. Jon Chappell was able to create some space and then played a sublime slip-pass to Leonard who got himself onto the score sheet with a strong shot to take the game to the half-time whistle at 3-0.

The half-time talk highlighted the areas that Whitchurch needed to build on, and the parts that were working well, and it gave the team the confidence to play as they know they can in the second half. Tom Forster and Dale Seymour worked the left wing well, and Kimberley and Fry spread the attack out on the right and the pressure told, resulting in a number of short corners from which Leonard was able to put a straight strike past the diving keeper’s left foot.

Neston regrouped, determined to get something from the game for all their hard work, and an attack down the left led to a free hit going their way, giving them a chance to get into the Whitchurch dee and claim a short corner. Despite a strong run out from James Partington, and good blocks from Steve Kay and a diving save from Sturge, the ball just managed to cross the line before being kicked back out by the keeper.

Good marking and running for loose balls by Whitchurch added pressure on Neston, which led to a pass back by the Neston midfield missing its intended target and Seymour and Kimberley were left on their own against the Neston keeper, and Seymour was able to blast one past him to make the score line 5-1. Despite a yellow card for a Neston player in the final few minutes, Whitchurch were unable to capitalise and the game ended 5-1; they face league leaders Wilmslow next week at home.