The Factory Boys win in sensational fashion as Freddie Puts the Nail in Uniteds Coffin

Its been a while since we wrote a match report, a mix of house renovations and admins living away from Bristol has meant that our socials have taken a back seat recently, but boy do we have a cracker for you here...

This one had it all, handbags, cards, sin bins, a penalty and a free kick worth mentioning over and over again. Nailsea United were the Visitors to Somerdale on a warm Spring evening. Nailsea started brightly, and for the first 10 minutes had a lot of the ball, that said, for all of the ball they had, they didn't create a real clear cut chance. Frys grew into the game, and started putting some real pressure on the back 4 of Nailsea who weren't dealing with Callum Frys long goal kicks out of his hands and Frys started to target the back 4 of Nailsea knowing they were struggling to deal with them. The breakthrough came approximately half way through the first half, a sloppy pass across goal by a Nailsea defender was intercepted by Jake Norrie, who played in Sammy Hewitt, who kept his composure and smashed the ball into the bottom corner giving the keeper no chance! 1-0 and thoroughly deserved. We continued to put pressure on a back line of Nailsea, who were struggling against the pace of a front two of Sammy & James Lau. We had a couple of half chances towards the end of the half, Max clipped the top of the crossbar with a header from a Freddie Free kick being the most notable.

Half time: Fry Club 1 - 0 Nailsea United

Now, are you sitting comfortably? The Second half will live long in the memory of Frys Players, Staff & Supporters. The message at half time, was essentially to continue doing what we were doing, the Nailsea backline were tiring and we could benefit from sloppy touches and our pace up top. We werent really troubled in the first half from a defensive point of view, the communication had been spot on between the back 4 and our keeper. Not even a minute gone, and you would have been forgiven for thinking gameplan out the window - a long hopeful ball over the top from the nailsea right back was bouncing all over the place, the Nailsea striker was off balance but a nudge from Henry meant that he went down, and as last man was shown a straight red. We Felt that Harry was covering and would have got there but the referee had made his mind up. 44 Minutes with 10 men would be hard graft, but we'd seen character and a togetherness about us over the past couple of games. 5 minutes later, the game threatened to rare up again, a late challenge which left a lot to be desired by their number 8, who then caught Harry with a knee to the face, which then resulted in a lot of handbags and 3 yellows were shown... Since the sending off, we still had had a fair amount of the ball, and limited Nailsea to crosses into the box, which were either cleared, or calmly collected by our keeper. Despite the man advantage Nailsea had, we still looked more threatening going forward, as we had a huge chance to make it 2-0, as James Lau outmuscled the Nailsea defender, and slid in Sammy who looked certain to score but for a great save by the Nailsea Keeper who saves with his feet to keep his side in it. It looked as though that save would be a huge moment in this match, as Nailsea went down the other end and whipped a ball into the box which was headed up rather than out, and as Joel jumped to head it, a slight nudge in the back, swung his arm up and the ball hit it, and a penalty was given. Cal got a finger to it but it went in and it was all square. Now our character was to be tested. A phrase i love is, "if you can't win, don't lose" and that could have been a mentality we looked to use but we seemed hellbent on trying to win this game, a testament to our character. We almost retook the lead, 5 minutes after we had lost it, again James Lau, who was a constant thorn in the side of Nailseas defence all game, worked hard and found himself clean through, he rounded the keeper which took him slightly wide and went agonisingly close to finding the net. It was a sign that if we could maintain our defensive solidity, we could get more than just a point. There was 5 to go, one chance was all it would take to win us the game... Step forward Freddie Gwyther. A free kick was awarded 25 yards out, he couldn't, could he? A simply sensational strike flew into the top corner, accompanied by a "SAAFEEE" shout (Yes, we heard you keeps!) and Somerdale erupted as the Factory boys headed to the corner to celebrate a brilliant goal. Fred seems to be having a bit of a goal of the season competition with his own free kicks! We made life even harder for ourselves only a few moments later, as Joel (looking like a reincarnation of Freddie Mercury), seemed to say something which the ref didnt like, and Sin Binned him. We were solid for the final 2 minutes and some excellent game management saw us through.

Full Time: Fry Club 2 - 1 Nailsea United.

As i said, a game that had everything, but that winning goal is worthy of winning any game! the Character we showed to hold out defensively but still look like we were going to win the game, says a lot about us. A few days to recover now, with no game for the first team Saturday, but we head to Clutton on Easter Monday - We hope to see you all there!

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