United get back to winning ways

By Chris Burnett

The home side started well looking to get a result against Woodley who had beaten them twice already this season. Maurice Black had three chances in the early stages; his first effort was blocked by United centre back Joe Barley, he then forced Alex Reed into a decent stop diving to his right before shooting over from the left side of the box.

Woodley's first opportunity fell to Danny Horscroft seventeen minutes in. Twenty yards out, he missed to the left. United then started to take over, playing some good football on a bobbly pitch. Liam Wilson pounced on a poor touch by a Town defender to drive towards goal but could only prod wide.

Just after the half hour mark, Jake Nicholls forced Sandhurst keeper Matt Watson to beat out a powerful effort. An uneventful half ended with United's Matt Jones having a goal chalked off for offside.

HT Sandhurst Town 0-0 Woodley United

The second half began like the first with Sandhurst starting the better of the two sides. Joe Bilson blazed over after a cross from the left picked him out, whilst Woodley skipper Idris Kamara did well to cut out a low cross from Luke Burrows.

Seven minutes after the restart United took the lead and dominated from then on. Full back Danny Greenwood clipped a ball down the line to Wilson who picked out Jones in the box; showing composure, the Woodley forward took a touch before netting his first for the club.

United made a change on fifty six minutes when Wilson made way for Carl Prestidge.

The home side's task to get back into the game was made considerably harder on sixty one minutes when captain Tom Cooper was shown a straight red after a late tackle on Nicholls.

More Woodley pressure followed; Danny Horscroft had a free kick tipped over after a foul on Jones before Charlie Oakley replaced Josh Drew. This saw Jones move out to the wing and Oakley play through the middle.

Kamara was having a good game at the back once again, frequently getting his body in the way. This time he blocked a Burrows shot from the left.

This was the host's best spell of the match and saw them equalise when Michael Stepney turned in at the near post after Henry Lee saw a shot from distance deflect behind for a corner.

With eleven minutes to go United made their final change. Dave Morgan came on for Abdul Kamara who had worked his socks off in the heart of midfield.

Woodley retook the lead with nine minutes to go when a Jones pass found Prestidge in space in the box; a well-placed left footed shot from twelve yards beat Watson and found the right corner.

United had another goal ruled out in the final stages when Oakley was deemed offside. In added time Watson saved from Oakley after Sandhurst made a hash of clearing a deep free kick.

With Headington dropping points, Woodley are just two points behind both them and Finchampstead with three games in hand on the former and seven on the latter.

FT Sandhurst Town 1-2 Woodley United