Chilcompton Sports 4 Minehead 3

MINEHEAD lost by the odd goal in seven away to Chilcompton to bow out of the County League Cup for Premier and Division One sides.

They stormed into a 30-second lead through Simon Dennehy, but it was soon evident that the home side were more at home with the blustery, wet conditions, and with Minehead’s defence struggling to keep their feet when turning and unable to clear the ball to relieve the growing pressure, goals seemed on the cards.

Playing with the substantial slope and the gusty wind blowing directly down the pitch, the home strikers sensed there could be rich pickings, and midway through the half they scored two quick goals to turn the game on its head.

The match was full-blooded, and in the first half the fired up home side had three players cautioned by the referee.

Towards the end of the half the recently frugal Minehead defence was breached again to make it 3-1 at the break.

The tables were turned in the opening ten minutes of the second half however, with Minehead’s front line pace causing havoc, and soon the fast, direct approach created an opening for Jack Furse to reduce the deficit to just 3-2 after he was set up by Guy Burns.

On the hour, the game swung again after the dangerous Aaron Ireton left the pitch through injury and the wind noticeably dropped for a time, giving the home side the opportunity to gain a little composure.

Although it was the Blues who continued to force the play, attacking relentlessly, a break-away saw keeper Sam Tarr left exposed by his defence and the two-goal home lead was restored at 4-2.

Burns reduced the deficit a few minutes from time with a sweet free-kick from 25 yards which gave the keeper no chance, but it was too little too late and the home team’s name went into the hat for the third round draw.

Minehead: S Tarr, C Newbold, T West, S Lynch, M Mullen, S Dennehy, M Graddon, A Ireton, D Redman, J Furse, G Burns, subs F Ndiomo, M Ronan (both used).

l Tomorrow (Saturday) sees Minehead return to league action with another lengthy journey to Bristol, where they play St George Easton in Gordano, who currently languish at the bottom of the table with no points from eight starts.

After that the Blues face three games which could potentially define the rest of their season, as they take on three of the four sides above them in the league table, all currently unbeaten.

l Watchet’s league knockout cup tie away to Ilminster last week was called off due to a waterlogged pitch. The match is now re-scheduled for this Saturday, kick-off 1.45pm.