Hellenic League

Division One West

Wellington 1

Thornbury Town 3

HARRY BROCK bagged a brace as Thornbury kept up the pressure at the top of the Hellenic League tree, writes Mark Franklin.

Thornbury retained their 4-4-2 formation but with a couple of changes as Toby Bennett was declared fit and Jacob Farthing came in for the unwell Hodgson

They couldn’t have wished for a better start as following a Wellington corner they broke upfield and a Farthing cross was tapped home by Brock in the third minute.

The corner count continued to rise but both defences stood firm and neither side looked like scoring from set pieces – the best chances coming from open play without troubling either keeper - Apperley or Parkin.

The second half saw a change in formation for Thornbury who moved to 3-5-2 and within five minutes it had paid off with firstly Brock going around the keeper for his second and then top scorer Craig Lancastle on the scoresheet after finishing off a strong run from Brandon Benjamin down the right.

It could easily have been four when Lancastle hit the post on 57 minutes but instead the deficit was reduced a couple of minutes later when Thornbury failed to clear, and Saul Thomas made room for himself and drilled the ball into the bottom corner.

Thornbury continued to create chances though - penalty appeals waved away as firstly a Lancastle effort hit a hand, then Brock going over after rounding the keeper - and Franklin got on the end of a quality ball from Farthing only to see his effort go over the bar.

Wellington also pressed but were restricted in the most part to knocking the ball into the box where Sage and Rawnsley were dominant.

Hereford Pegasus also beat Malmesbury which means Thornbury now sit joint top behind those two on goal difference, but with games in hand.

With the midweek game at Stonehouse Town postponed, next up is the local derby at home to Tytherington Rocks on Saturday, 3pm