Hellenic Division One West

Shortwood United 4

Hereford Lads Club 4

SHORTWOOD co-manager Matty Blythe felt he aged 20 years after watching his side take part in an opening-day eight-goal rollercoaster ride against Hereford Lads Club.

Earlier, an under-strength Shortwood fell behind to a sixth-minute James Hancocks goal.

However, debutant Joe Wilton levelled things up on 34 minutes for Shortwood. Adam Hockley regained the lead for Hereford just before the break, but Shortwood’s Jacob Nowell made it 2-2 on 52 minutes. Hereford responded and nosed ahead through Hockley’s second after 73 minutes. Shortwood replied when Luke Soule scored on his debut, with six minutes to go to make it 3-3.

Deep into stoppage time Jake Lowe made it 4-3 to hand the Nailsworth side the lead for the first time in the game, but the drama wasn’t over as Kalum Wildig fired home in the 93rd-minute to snatch a point for the visitors.

Blythe tweeted: “ Not really sure what to make of today’s game. We scored some really good goals, but game management was poor at vital times and it could’ve gone either way. A draw was probably a fair result, but the game aged me 20 years.”