By Dick Sturch

Awliscombe 1st X1 3 ,Millwey Rise 1st X1 1

Kicking off with the very strong wind behind them, Millwey Rise'found themselves a goal down in the first ten minutes when a bouncing ball held up on the wind and deceived keeper Flynn Smith and was gratefully slotted home.

Awliscombe kept Millwey under constant pressure for much of the half and it took some excellent saves by Smith to keep them at bay.

No quarter was given in the ferocity of the tackles from both sides which resulted in injuries that prevented a player on each side continuing and necessitated early substitutions. Luke Thurlow had Millwey's only effort on goal but his firmly struck shot sailed over the bar and the home side went into the break a goal in front.

Within a minute of the re-start, Awliscombe went two up when a delightful cross was headed home giving the keeper no chance.

From then on Millwey were under the cosh at times and living very dangerously. Unfortunately, when they did break there were one or two controversial offsides given in favour of the home side. Twenty minutes in and they went further ahead when the Rise defence was beaten.

A series of substitutions were made by manager Shane Featherstone and his team started to make some inroads into the home side's defence. Their first shot on target came from Nathan Womersley which the keeper dealt with quite comfortably. This was followed by a great cross from Sam Turner which Chris Fry volleyed home to pull a goal back. Womersley then saw a firmly struck strike fly just over the bar before the final whistle.

On the day Awliscombe certainly deserved their victory and were very much on the front foot for most of the game. For Millwey young keeper Flynn Smith, together with Womersley and Fry earn a mention for their unstinting effort.