Gunners maintained their position at the top of the table with a 2-1 win against Woodley Saints. Woodley had the better of the first half with Gunners kicking into a strong wind. However, Woodley reliance on the long ball saw this travel to Duncan more often than not.
However, when Woodley played the ball on the ground they had more joy and had a couple of early chances from short range crosses. Woodley also forced a number of corner but Gunners did just enough defensively to prevent them from scoring.
At the other end of the field, there was no service to the front men and chances were few and far between. Bill Maslin had an opportunity to score as did Dave Owen but Gunners could not find the back of the net and the half time score was 0-0.
In the second half Woodley took an early lead when they scored from close range. Gunners switched tactics to a 3-4-3 with Matt Rees pushing up front and Steve Tranter was introduced into the game. Gunners began to have the better of the game but did not play much passing football but chances did start to come with Gunners coming close on a couple of occasions.
Gunners should have been awarded a penalty when Lee Gallagher was brought down in the box which was not given. Lee then punched the ball away with his arm as he got up into Steves path for a shot which the referee missed. Unfortunately, Gunners did not get their fair share of the decisions from the linesman which eventually led to Steve Tranter receiving a booking for complaining and Paul Stout soon followed into the book after a rash challenge.
With about twenty minutes to go Steve Tranter equalised when he jinked past two defenders and his deflected shot left the keeping with no chance of saving the ball. Gunners continued to battle and were starting to create more opportunities and Woodley were forced to make a few last ditch tackles to prevent a scoring opportunity. Woodley also looked to counter when they could against Gunners but did not create many shots on goal but did force one or two corners.
Gunners continued to pile on the pressure and had eventually took the lead with a few minutes to go when Matt Rees scored from close range, his first of the season. Gunners then ran down the clock in the last few minutes by keeping possession of the ball from a corner and held out for the win.
It was a pretty poor performance from Gunners overall, but the team battled well in the second half to earn the three points. "Man of the Match" was Neil Oldcorn for his "never say die" attitude during the game.
Match Facts
MOM : N Oldcorn
Goals : S Tranter (1), M Rees (1)
Team
