Shortwood Utd....1

Didcot Town........3

By Jim Cunneen

SHORTWOOD United joint-manager John Evans insisted his side ‘huffed and puffed’ but couldn’t blow Didcot Town’s house over as his side fell to a fourth consecutive league defeat.

Evans said: “We keep conceding poor goals and that leaves us chasing the game. We huffed and puffed in the second half but that second goal killed us.”

In only the second minute Didcot’s Francis hammered the ball against the bar from close range and on five minutes they Railywaymen took the lead.

Ballard launched a long throw into the box, Wood failed to clear and Learoyd fizzed the ball home.

Keeper Bedwell saved a shot from the returning Jake Lee, but for most of the first half Wood were restricted to long shots as they struggled to make any headway against the Town defence.

Collins should have done better than fire over for Didcot after 25 minutes and Town enjoyed the better of the rest of the half.

Wood certainly attacked with more purpose and energy in the second half and put Town under a lot of pressure.

Lee and Ross Staley were inches over with shots and Liam Meredith had a shot blocked.

However, after 71 minutes Didcot broke at speed and when a low cross came in Francis was unmarked at the far post to score from close range.

That knocked the early Christmas stuffing out of Wood and they rang the changes. Finally with 87 minutes gone, Marley Thomas’s excellent cross was knocked down by Lee and Joe White swivelled and fired home through a ruck of players.

Any hope Wood had of salvaging a draw soon disappeared as again Didcot broke and another cross to Powell left him with another simple finish to complete the scoring.

Shortwood: King, Rawlings, Humphreys (Thomas 75), Lewis, Bennett, Hancock, Singh (Morford 58), Moxham, Lee, Meredith (White 81), Staley.

Star Man: Tom Moxham.