Southern League South, West Division

Shortwood United 0

Bideford 6

By Harry Ash

A PROMISING first-half from Shortwood was quickly forgotten during the second, as Bideford came away with an easy victory, thanks largely to four goals from Sean Downing. Angry Wood boss Paul Meredith said: “Above all, the players let themselves down. Admittedly we have a young side but today we just downed tools. All season I’ve been proud of the way we haven’t just rolled over, so the fact that we did today is a bigger disappointment than the result. There are things we need to put right before the next game and I’m sure there will be a reaction from this game.”

Shortwood started shakily, and it took under a minute for Bideford to have the ball in the net, but Sean Downing was offside as he tapped in a rebound after a free kick was poorly cleared. The hosts’ first chance came five minutes in, as a long kick from Harry Pickering was headed onto Joe White by Nick Humphreys, but White’s volley was well saved by the advancing Steve Oliver. A minute later, Matt Bye’s free kick was headed towards goal by Kevin Squire at the far post, but Pickering was there to parry it wide. From the resulting Bye corner, Ben Prictor cleared James Mayne’s header off the line. Bideford took a deserved lead in the thirteenth minute; Squire’s effort was well blocked by Rich Thwaite, but, with Pickering out of position, the ball fell for Downing ten yards out, who finished into the empty net.

Shortwood were the dominant force for the remainder of the first half, but were unable to take any of their chances.

Will Hawes came close to an equaliser within a minute of Bideford’s opener, but he struck a low shot wide of the far post, having done well to control a long ball up to him. Wood’s best chance came with twenty minutes played, when a nice one-two between Hawes and Jordan Morris set the former through on goal, but his right-footed shot was rather tame and easily saved by Oliver.

Prictor almost caught Oliver out with a mishit cross three minutes later, and it had to be tipped over the cross bar. Morris shot narrowly wide of the near post half an hour in, before, five minutes later, Nick Humphreys stung the palms of Oliver with a fierce strike from twenty-five yards.

The second half was disastrous from a Shortwood point of view, as Bideford ran in five goals in the space of sixteen minutes.

The first of those five came in the sixty-second minute, when Mayne rose highest at the back post to nod the ball into the far corner. Six minutes later, a mazy run from Josh Key created space for him to cross to the far post, where Squire was waiting to again head into the far corner.

Bideford made it four two minutes later when a long ball from Steve Reed was missed by Ryan Thwaite, and Downing was able to hit a low shot past the onrushing Pickering and into the bottom corner.

With seventy four minutes on the clock, Downing completed his hat-trick, finishing left-footed into the bottom corner after he was found by substitute Will Hancox.

The rout was completed with just over ten minutes to play, with Downing scoring his fourth after his header from Bye’s corner was saved, and he bundled in the rebound. Shortwood’s only chances of the half were created three minutes from time; first Humphreys played a through ball to White, but his shot was again well saved by Oliver. Freeman then crossed to Humphreys, who headed over from close range.

Shortwood paid for not taking their chances in the first half, but there can’t be any excuses for the way they played in the second, having showed that they were good enough to compete with Bideford. The away side’s aerial dominance created huge problems, as Shortwood looked threatened by any high ball into the penalty area, and conceded directly from three of those situations.

SHORTWOOD: Harry Pickering, Ryan Meredith, Ben Prictor, Rich Thwaite, Ryan Thwaite, Harry Burns, Jack Freeman, Joe White, Nick Humphreys (C), Jordan Morris, Will Hawes (Alex Kibble 65’)