United take to the sky!

For the second successive Saturday these two teams met in league action and what was also the sixth competitive meeting between the sides in fifteen months!

Eager to banish the previous week’s performance, United had the first shot on target as early as the second minute with Rafa Brandao shooting straight at visiting keeper Ben Clargo. A minute later Woodley United’s wall stood firm and blocked a free kick as the opening stages were a rerun of the previous meeting with both teams positive in attack. The seventh minute saw Woodley’s debutant keeper Finn Rushton deny Reece Keary followed by good play by McKoy Palmer that saw the winger create space for a shot that was at Clargo.

Rushton pushed the ball clear in the fourteenth minute, Bakai Manneh fired over the visitors’ cross bar, Mark Webb shot wide of the home goal after a good run while a Tahir Carmichael cross to the far post evade the oncoming United players.

The only goal of the game came in the thirty eight minute with last season’s leading scorer Sid Gbla opening his account for this term firing into the roof of the net from close range after reacting to Dan Watkiss’ heading Palmer’s long throw into the penalty area.

A minute into first half stoppage time saw British Airways’ Mourad Jarraz shot wide with only Rushton to beat as he latched onto a long pass from his defence that went over the United defence.

Woodley started the second half positively while also showing greater determination in defence as the half progressed. The opening minute saw Connor Richardson run at the defence and pass to Gbla who shot wide from a tight angle which followed seven minutes later with the same player heading wide following pressure from a Carmichael corner kick.

Richardson had a lively half and saw Clargo deny him a goal when the keeper blocked a shot with this feet.

The hosts were reduced to ten players in the eighty first minute when Bakai Manneh was sin-binned for spearing the ball to the ground following being penalised for a challenge but British Airways’ advantage was short lived as they were also reduced to ten players six minutes later when Shaun Aram was also sin-binned.

The effect of these temporary dismissals and substitutions resulted in the game becoming one of stop and go with neither team being able to find any rhythm, but United was able to see out the nine minutes added time to secure a second league win in five days.

Rushton, Adu Essah (Suckling), Carmichael, Lambourne (Kalejaiye), Watkiss, Chowdhary (Malik), Richardson, Manneh, Gbla (Monteiro), Brandao, Palmer Sub not used: Drammah