Street 0 Brislington 0

Tuesday 12th August 2008
Street 0 Brislington 0
Toolstation League Premier Division
At: Tannery Ground
Kick-off: 7-30 pm
Admission: £5 including 36 page programme
Attendance: 84
Weather: sunny
Duration: first-half: 46:22; second-half: 45:55

Following opening day defeats, Street and Brislington both gained their points of the season but are still searching for their first goal.

This was almost the game that never was for me. I'm sure I wouldn't have made it to the Tannery Gound without the benefit of the borrowed SatNav. I wasn't the case that I got lost but the expected arrival time gave me confidence that I could make kick-off without breaking the speed limits. In mid-afternoon, prospects weren't good as we were still in Avebury (famous for its ancient stones, etc). I had to get back to the mother-in-law's house to drop off the family before continuing to Street. Thankfully I made it with half an hour to spare!

Street's Tannery Ground is straight-forward to find. I approached the town on the A39 from M5 Junction 23. After hitting the outskirts of the town, turn right at the lights into Brooke Street and follow this road until a left turn into Middle Brooks. The ground entrance is on the left. Proceed up the drive and there is car parking near the ground on the right.

The stadium has plenty of greenery around which fits in well with Street's club colours of green and white. The main pitch is orientated just about north-south with the entrance on the eastern side. On this near touchline is an area of covered standing either side of the halfway line. To the right is another small seated stand. On the opposite touchline stretching up from the left-hand corner is another seated stand containing individual green tip-up seats (from where I watched the game).

The programme editorial, ‘A Load of Cobblers’, mentioned that ‘there has been a lot going on as a new net has been erected behind the goal and the whole campus has had a lick of paint and a general smartening up’. Street are nicknamed ‘The Cobblers’!

In Saturday’s opening fixtures, Street lost 2-0 at Bitton while Brislington went down 1-0 at home to Melksham Town.

The first attempt to get the game under way was deemed a 'false start'. Brislington (in red and black stripes) got the game underway attacking the goal with the second pitch behind.

Street created the first decent chance in the 6th minute when Nick Yeo produced a decent diving save to turn round Chris Sheard’s deflected shot. Defender Ben Amghar headed wide from the resulting corner.

The visitors went even closer just after the quarter-hour mark. Kye Mountford’s 30-yard free-kick thumped against the bar and must have taken a touch off a defender on the way.

A nice move involving Tod Winter, Hiroli Adnan and Danny Guibarra almost provided Brislington with a breakthrough but Adnan’s shot went wide of the target.

With the floodlights now on, The Cobblers made a positive start to the second half. John Cox fired over the bar from the edge of the area and saw effort deflected wide at the expense of a corner.

As they had done in the first, Brislington again hit the woodwork just after the hour mark. Tom Godsell ran into head Charlie Rich’s corner against the top of the bar.

“We need a goal,” shouted someone in the crowd.

The Street bench provided some encouragement as well: “Concentration, belief, it is there for you”.

As full time approached, Brendan Dix kept his side in contention with a good save to hold on to Guibarra’s 15-yard left foot shot.

Street thought they’d won the game in the 87th minute, only to disappointed when Craig Thomas had the ball in the net, only for striker Dave Pearce to be flagged offside.

Street (green with white sleeves / white /white): 1. Brendan Dix, 2. Craig Thomas, 3. Ollie Walby, 4. Danny Milner (capt), 5. Tom Clifford-Jones, 6. Ben Amghar, 7. John Cox, 8. Chris Sheard, 9. Dave Pearce, 10. Kye Palmer, 11. Lewis Lambert. Subs: 12. Jack Malone (not used), 14. Luke Dovey (for Sheard, 87), 15. Martin Pople (not used), 16. Dave Pople (not used).

Brislington (red and black stripes / black / red): 1. Nick Yeo, 2. Sam Williams, 3. Charlie Rich, 4. Danny Barhood, 5. Tom Godsell, 6. James Peart, 7. Mark Chaffey (capt), 8. Kye Mountford, 9. Hiroli Adnan, 10. Danny Guibarra, 11. Tod Winter. Subs: 12. Mark Twentyman (for Chaffey, 78), 14. Paul Lucas (for Adnan, 82), 15. Clarke Thomas (for Winter, 82).

Referee: R. Gillard.
Assistants: C. Brokenshaw and T. Richardson.

Goals: none

Cards:
Street: Ollie Walby (YC, 57), Chris Sheard (YC, 83)
Brislington: none