Trowbridge were deserving winners at The Firs on Saturday. Throughout they played fast, clever and precise football, and in the second half established such a definite superiority that the Chippenham team were never in the hunt. Feature of a more balanced first half was the large number of goalmouth thrills, with both goalkeepers making daring saves, and defenders kicking away when a goal looked certain. One of the brightest spots from a Trowbridge point of view was the satisfactory display of Skinner, brought in at inside-left for Hancock, who was on county duly. He had the satisfaction of scoring the first goal within 30 seconds and of having hand in the second. He looks like a natural footballer, and some of his shrewd moves would have done credit to a much more seasoned player. Haddon had good match, although there were times when he held on to try to beat that one man too many—with the usual fatal result. Trowbridge defence was sound, with Tuck and Lovesey playing a hard game, and big-hearted Jimmy Welch never put a foot wrong. For United. Jack Dagg had a good match, and Goddard's ball distribution was brilliant at times. Artus and Nutt were terrific gluttons for work, and with Hares stood up well to gruelling afternoon.
The game opened sensationally. Webb and Grimason took the ball through on the Trowbridge left, and with a clever flick Grimason put the ball through to Skinner, in the perfect scoring position, and he gave McLoughlin no chance. Within five minutes United equalised. Goddard found Dagg with a shrewd pass, and the centre forward shot with terrific force to beat Vince, the ball coming back out from the underside of the bar. Skinner and Greenland had shots charged down in the goalmouth. Following a free kick Greenland hit a post with McLoughlin beaten. Vince did well to smother a drive from Dagg, following a Goddard pass. After a quarter of an hour Trowbridge went ahead again. Following a left-wing movement Skinner shot hard for goal and McLoughlin could only push the hall out to Grimason, who had no difficulty in scoring from close in. Vince dashed out and picked up just in time from the feet of Goddard, who had been put through by Dagg. Then Dagg beat a couple of men before shooting hard, and Vince saved on his knees. Tuck blocked a Dagg effort just the crowd were getting ready to shout "goal†and then Greenland raced through, for McLoughlin to save at full length. A shot from Goddard which looked a goal all the wav was rather luckily deflected by Tuck. United's goal had a let-off when a shot from Webb came off a post to Haddon, who shot tamely into the keeper's hands. Five minutes from halftime United had a corner on the right. Allen placed it beautifully and as Dagg's header came back off the bar Nutt returned it into the net with his head.
WEBB'S WINNER
The home team were almost completely out of the picture the second half. Harry Haddon fired in some terrific shots from the wing which fully extended McLoughlin, three saves being top class. After Webb had missed a sitter from a perfect pass by Haddon. Grimason was only inches wide with a lovely header, again from a Haddon centre. Twenty minutes from the end the ball came out loose to Webb, who beat McLoughlin all ends up. Trowbridge continued on top, and United never looked like saving a point.
Teams:
Chippenham United—McLoughlin; Liddle, Lewis; Nutt, Hares, Artus, Allen, Davy, Dagg, Goddard, Elms.
Trowbridge—Vince; Sutherland. Welch; Lovesey, Tuck Marshall; Haddon. Greenland. Grimason, Skinner. Webb.
Report from The Wiltshire Times
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