Woodley United 1 v Berks County 0
In front of a decent size crowd on the first cold night of the season, Woodley scored a late winning goal to maintain top spot in the division and hit a half century of league points.
As in the previous match at Penn & Tylers Green both goal keepers had little to do with the bulk of play in midfield and defences coping well with opposing forwards.
The opening quarter hour saw a contrast in styles with Woodley playing the ball forward at every opportunity while County looked to pass out wide with their wingers attempting to take opponents on. Gradually the visitors approach started to pay dividends with two shots in as many minutes, the first high over Joe Hill’s crossbar at the Railway end and the second comfortably handled by Hill.
Ex-Woodley player Connor Suckling saw a shot go wide of Hill’s right hand post in the twenty second minute. The game then entered a stop start period with both teams guilty of conceding free kicks as they attempted to control the midfield while defenders were determined to not concede goal scoring chances.
Another ex-Woodley player, Kevin Debarros shot wide from eight yards when Woodley failed to clear a ball while Suckling saw a shot narrowly go wide after a deflection from a Woodley defender for a corner kick. County continued to apply pressure in the home half of the pitch and saw Charlie Craske hit the cross bar from a free kick and from the resulting clearance Craske shot directly at Hill.
The final shot of the half again saw Hill comfortably deal with a shot at him, this time from Shaquille Johnson.
The visitors started the second half as they finished the first, applying pressure in the Woodley half of the pitch. However, United gradually found their rhythm and success on their right hand side of the pitch. Kaylum Barlow endeavoured to pass to Jude Van Spall, who was in the visitors’ penalty area only for the ball to be intercepted while Troy Williams saw a cross from the right travel through County’s penalty area but no Woodley player was present to capitalise on the chance.
A series of substitutions provided new impetus to the home team’s play with both Ornildo Shehu and Lucas Taplin eager to have the ball and run at opponents. A series of substitutions provided new impetus to the home team’s play with both Ornildo Shehu and Lucas Taplin eager to have the ball and run at opponents. It was from a Finley Meikle cross field pass from his own half that saw Taplin controlled the ball on the edge of the County penalty area before calmly slotting pass Harvey Rackley-Hayes in the eighty second minute for what was to prove the game’s decisive goal and United’s only shot on target during the game.
Four minutes later Zaid Hannachi saw his free kick go wide of Rackley-Hayes left hand post.
With four minutes additional time added to the second half, Woodley controlled possession of the ball to reach full time without a scare a secure a precious win against a team capable of challenging for a promotion play-off position.
Hill, Simpson, Cammock, Leahy (Hannachi)), Maylen, Hok, Meikle (Maadini), Collins (Stewart), Williams, Van Spall (Shehu), Barlow (Taplin)