Southern League Division One South and West

Wantage Town 1

Shortwood Utd 3

By Paul Benneyworth

A MATT Bennett brace helped Shortwood stretch their unbeaten run to nine games with an emphatic victory at Wantage Town.

Bennett broke the deadlock from 30 yards with a trademark drive which clipped the underside of the bar before bouncing down and into the roof of the net.

The lead was short lived however when on 22 minutes a pass out from the Shortwood defence was intercepted by Melledew whose low shot was deflected wide enough of Tom King to level the score.

They regained the lead on 32 minutes. Bennett stooped in unmarked to head home a Nick Humphreys’ corner from four yards.

Minutes later he missed a similar chance and Lewis Sommers was also guilty of missing the target when presented with a free header from close in.

Having failed to increase their lead, Wantage nearly made Shortwood pay when in the last minute of the half Afolabi had a shot well saved low down by Tom King and from the resultant corner Deabill rose high but headed over. Josh Egan was substituted for Tim Haddock at half-time as a precautionary measure following a clash of heads during the first half.

It looked like Shortwood were going to overrun their opponents especially after  Humphreys added a third goal. Starting out wide Humphreys run ended near the byline and as he approached the goal he was able to slip the ball home from an acute angle. Wantage had other ideas though as Shortwood relaxed and they had several chances to narrow the score line.

A point blank save from Tom King and a Deabill lob which hit the underside of the bar and bounced out were two of several chances that came Wantage’s way. Shortwood gave Opoku his debut and his fresh legs gave Shortwood a valuable outlet to relieve the pressure.

What could have been a difficult last ten minutes for Shortwood was abated when Arnau was given a second yellow card for a late tackle on Hancock who was unable to continue. Marley Thomas came on and Shortwood were able to see out the game with ease.

Shortwood: King, Rawlings, Humphreys, Thomas A, Lee, Haddock (Egan ht), Langworthy, Hancock (Thomas M 82’), Sommers, Price (Opoku 66’), Bennett.

Sub not used: Sykes, Herbert.