South West Counties Youth League games come thick and fast and a 100% unbeaten record was relinquished by BTFC/Team BTC as they played New College Swindon in a fast paced and actioned packed game played at Bridgwater & Taunton College.
The match started at a good pace with the home side combining well and creating several quality chances. On 25 minutes, after excellent work by Kofi Martin, Liam Winter made it 1 – 0 to the hosts with a superb left footed strike, giving the GK zero chance.
Several more half chances came and went, and then, as is often the case New College Swindon equalised shortly before halftime.
After soaking up some early pressure, Team BTC/BTFC took control of the game forcing the visiting GK into several fine saves and proceeding to hit the woodwork three times in a 10 minute spell of complete dominance.
Undaunted New College, took back some initiative and hit the bar themselves and then brought a fine save from home keeper Harrison Buller.
With time slipping away, a well struck free kick 40 yards out caused problems for the defence resulting in the visitors taking the lead with a well-timed header.
Despite creating a few more half chances the equaliser proved beyond Team BTC/BTFC leaving the final score at 1 – 2 and ending their record as the only unbeaten side in the league.
Although a disappointing result, the overall performance was of high quality, auguring well for the remainder of the season and the further development of the lads involved.
Manager Tom Sage said,
“We had enough chances today to win three games but through a combination of good goal keeping, the woodwork and poor finishing we just couldn't take advantage of our dominance and succumbed to two sucker punches when we should have been out of sight.
“Nonetheless, it is a great learning experience for the players, as they know that they need to focus on their game management more. With 10 minutes to go and the game still at 1 – 1 we needed to have been smarter in our defending, even though we had a further three chances to win the game, and recognise the need to defend more assertively.
“Swindon are a robust side and always look to attack quickly so were always in the game but we needed to be more clinical in our finishing and that combined with the woodwork conspiring to deny us a goal resulted in a frustrating morning. However, we will work hard again this week and look forward to next Saturday's fixture.”
