Trowbridge Town, without a league engagement, entertained Portsmouth XI for the second time this season, being defeated by three goals to two after an interesting match. On Aug. 19th Trowbridge won by 3-1. Last Saturday, however, the visitors were worthy of victory. Their team work was faster and generally more constructive than Trowbridge, who, however, never played badly. For a change, the ground was dry, though bumpy, and a new ball seemed to puzzle the players for a long time. Trowbridge's big fault lay in their failure to shoot more frequently, and, in any case, a little quicker instead of giving Portsmouth's alert defenders so much time to think.
Shortly after the kick-off Dagg almost caught Leather napping when he raced swiftly to the goalkeeper and kicked the ball from his grasp and just wide of the goat. Tuck gave Vince a shot when he headed past upright. Trowbridge did most of the attacking for 20 minutes, but failed to force home their advantage, the visitors' defence becoming stronger as the game progressed. Hindmarsh, a former first team player, was strong at right back, and the wing halves gave little away. Portsmouth went ahead with good goal by Edwards (centre forward), who beat Vince from close range following clever approach work by Dawson (inside left). Two minutes later Hansford handled in the penalty area, and Beale converted a penalty. Only eight minutes later Portsmouth were three up —another penalty—this time when Welch stopped a shot on the goal-line. Beale again scored with a hard drive. Vince saved a terrific drive from Dawson before half-time.
Trowbridge looked more effective from the restart, and Leather was beaten completely by grand header by Dagg from Hancock's pass, but the ball flew just outside the goal. Webb started his roving tactics, and after 20 minutes he picked up a pass, almost in front of goal and on the edge of the penalty area, and beat Leather with terrific shot. Five minutes later centre half Howard handled in the penalty "box" and Haddon converted the third penalty kick, of the game. This was all the scoring, but Trowbridge went very near to getting an equaliser. The attendance was 1,800. During the interval Mr. E. Bullock, chairman of the Supporters' Club, appealed to supporters to support the collections being made towards the cost of a ground drainage scheme. Collectors then went round the ground.
Report from The Wiltshire Times
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