United go down to heavy defeat in home opener

United got off to the worst start possible, falling behind after just two minutes when Kieran Strange headed a deep free kick into the left corner.

With fifteen minutes gone the hosts had a decent spell. Sam Guze saw his free kick go into the Milton wall after Liam Wilson was bundled over just outside the box before Kai Parton-Edey came within inches of levelling with a right footed drive from twenty yards.

Midway through the half saw Woodley create their best chance of the game when a Guze through ball found Toby Briggs on the right side of the box. With Craig Griffiths off his line quickly, Briggs wasn’t able to get enough on his lofted effort, allowing a very good save.

The visitors were then lucky to have eleven men remain on the pitch after a bad tackle on Alex Freeth.

Milton doubled their advantage on twenty six minutes from a right wing corner; United keeper Brad Moore got a hand to Henry Bone’s header but couldn’t keep it out.

Looking for an immediate response, Guze shot over whilst Parton-Edey dragged a difficult chance wide.

United were looking vulnerable to any ball played into the box in the air. They had two let-offs within sixty seconds of each other with ten minutes of the half left. First the visitors headed over a corner from the left before Moore gathered another effort off a Milton head.

The half ended with the sides trading shots but neither keeper tested. Bone lobbed Moore only to see his shot bounce up onto the roof of the net whilst Guze could only find the side netting from fifteen yards.

HT Woodley United 0-2 Milton United

Woodley made a change at the start of the half when centre back Karl Deans who had picked up a knock made way for Andrew Gilbert.

Like they did on Tuesday evening, United changed to a 4-3-3. Jamie Smith missed to the left, Parton-Edey volleyed wide and Liam Wilson saw a good effort just go over.

A lot of the Milton pressure was coming down the right with full back Jordan Goddard involved heavily. His cross found Sam McDermaid who saw his shot blocked by Pele Hagger.

With twenty minutes left, Woodley fell further behind when a Nathanael Robinson free kick found the right corner.

United made another change with fifteen to go when Reece Brown came on for Freeth.

Brown nearly made an immediate impact when a fantastic ball from the left was cleared by a defender who got up well. The ball eventually fell to Guze who couldn’t test Griffiths.

The Milton keeper was having a quiet afternoon but was called into action with five minutes to go easily dealing with another Guze shot.

Milton put gloss on the scoreline with two late strikes allowing Robertson to complete his hat-trick. After pulling off a good stop to keep out a Goddard shot, Moore was left rooted to the spot as a 25-yard drive beat him. Then in injury time Robertson took advantage of a counter attack to fire a crisp strike into the corner.

FT Woodley United 0-5 Milton United