Match Report

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Trowbridge Town 
4 - 3
 Southampton Reserves

Friendly
Saturday, March 15th, 1952
3:00 PM Kick-off

Scorers: Harry Haddon, Dennis Hancock, Les Skinner (2)


Surviving a series of swift and cleverly conceived attacks the first half, Trowbridge rallied to their best form and won an exciting 4-3 victory in a most entertaining friendly at Frome Road last Saturday. As Southampton brought what was virtually their Football Combination eleven. Trowbridge victory was highly creditable, even if luck was their side in the opening half. When Southampton "got their bearings" they gave a demonstration of clever team work which had the tenacious Town defenders on the run. Once Purves interchanged smartly from the inside-left to inside-right position and, running on to a perfect pass, crashed in a shot which Vince never saw. but he heard the ball smack against an upright and, turning quickly, caught the rebound and cleared. Not long after this Page, a swift winger with a terrific shot, swept down the wing, cut in and slammed in another shot which glanced off Vince on the crossbar and back against an upright. There were other occasions when Vince and his colleagues cleared under heavy pressure, but Trowbridge never got bewildered, and bit by bit the tide of attack receded.
Trowbridge became a more effective force when their halves swung long accurate passes to the wings, which caused misjudgements in the Southampton rear-guard, whose backs were not too convincing under pressure. Thomas's work in goal increased, but he was beaten after 25 minutes in a sudden breakaway, when Skinner forced the ball home as the goalkeeper lay on the ground injured. After Vince had saved on the goal-line Dudley equalised with a memorable goal. Millward swung the ball into an open space between the Trowbridge backs and, Dudley, going through at top speed, beat Vince with a terrific drive.
Ten minutes after the interval Trowbridge scored a "picture” goal. Ronnie Webb got going on one of his best wing excursions, centred perfectly from the goal-line, and Hancock met the ball fair and square with his head and sent it past Thomas. This was the prelude to a goal rush, for in the 57th minute another long pass found Dudley, who streaked through at top speed, and once again Vince was completely beaten by what looked like a jet-propelled drive! The score stood at 2-2 for exactly one minute, and then the tenacious Grimason squared the ball smartly from almost on the goal-line for Skinner to score. Three minutes later, in the 61st minute, Skinner passed out to Haddon. whose shot struck the far upright and rebounded to Haddon's feet, and he made sure of the second opportunity. Page, with another great solo run, made the score 4-3 in the 69th minute. Southampton went very near to equalising, but Trowbridge also gave Thomas a lot to do before the final whistle. Denis Hancock played an outstanding game in Trowbridge's attack. His speed and clever body swerves frequently defeated the opposing defence and opened the way for spectacular attacks by the complete forward line.
Trowbridge team: Vince; Hulbert, Sutherland; Lovesey, Tuck, Marshall, Haddon. Grimason, Skinner. Hancock, Webb. The referee was Mr. Harold French.

Report from The Wiltshire Times


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