Trowbridge, with a rearranged defence because of Welch's absence through injury, were far too good for their opponents, whose form was considerably below that shown on previous visits. The margin of victory certainly did not flatter Trowbridge, who were in the Dorchester goal area for most the 90 minutes, but wasted dozen or more easy scoring chances through over-eagerness. Allowing for these lapses, however, the Dorchester goal had many very fortunate escapes and defenders smiled frequently at their luck when shots cannoned off their legs or bodies without them knowing much about it. On other occasions only the crossbar or uprights kept the ball out, and on top of all these lucky let-offs, Nobbs, the visitors' goalkeeper, made some fine saves.
The Dorchester half-hacks were outmanoeuvred by the skilful passing of the Town forwards, particularly Haddon and Greenland on the right wing. Webb found Montacute (right-hack) a big stumbling block, but the winger often made good use of the ball through the astute work of Dennis Hancock, when he cleverly drew the back away from Webb. Many Trowbridge attacks were started by Ernie Marshall, who showed some of his best footwork, and Hulbert and Sutherland, at back, performed light duties polished style. Little was seen Dorchester's attack, apart from Harry Merritt, a former Trowbridge player, who always looked likely score when in the vicinity of the home goal. Harry still has a rare burst of speed, and can shoot hard and true - as Vince found from the few shots he had to deal with during the afternoon.
On a thawing pitch falls and miskicks were frequent, but Trowbridge were soon bombarding their opponents' goal. Haddon "ballooning" high and wide from a delightful pass by Hancock. Haddon hobbled badly after a tussle with Farley, but the winger put Trowbridge a goal up after 15 minutes. Greenland was worming his way through when Farlev "grassed" him inside the penalty box. The referee gave an indirect free kick from which Grimason passed to Haddon, who sent in a hard low shot, which Nobbs got his hands to but could not prevent crossing the line. Montacute kicked off the goal-line with Nobbs yards away, and a terrific drive by Lovesey was followed by Grimason shooting the crossbar from Hancock's pass. Vince, shivering with inactivity, looked pleased to have a shot from Merritt, but the ball was mostly in the distance for him. Fifteen minutes after the interval Haddon dribbled through and cracked in a beautiful shot which rebounded from an upright, but Greenland fastened on to the ball and beat Nobbs. Ten minutes later in one of the visitors' breakaways Tuck slipped when tackling Carter (centre-forward) who ran on about 40 yards and easily beat Vince. In the 82nd minute, however. Greenland made victory safe for Trowbridge scoring another good goal from Webb's pass.
Trowbridge team. Vince. Hulbert. Sutherland: Lovesey. Tuck. Marshall; Haddon. Greenland, Grimason. Hancock. Webb.
Report from The Wiltshire Times
|
