“Nick Humphreys capped off a man of the match performance with his first senior goal for the club”

A deserved win for Shortwood but both sides will rue their missed chances; Shortwood in the first half when they should have been well clear and Wantage in the second half when they failed to run Shortwood closer.

The game started poorly and at high pace and neither side seemed capable of retaining possession. An error as early as the 3rd minute allowed Haddock to collect a loose ball and as the Wantage defence opened up in front of him his swirling shot was desperately punched clear by Farrow after he seemingly had it well covered.

The poor passing made it difficult for either side to conjure up any clear cut chances and it needed an individual effort from Matt Bennett to break the deadlock. After appearing to lose the ball in midfield he emerged through two tackles and from 30 yards unleashed a trademark drive which clipped the underside of the bar before bouncing down and into the roof of the net.
The lead was short lived however when on 22 minutes a pass out from the Shortwood defence was intercepted by Melledew whose low shot was deflected wide enough of Tom King to level the score.

This brought Shortwood to life and a period of dominance followed and with a series of attacks down the flanks eventually led to Shortwood regaining the lead but should also have seen them comfortably ahead a half time. The goal came in the 32nd minute when Bennett stooped in unmarked to head home a Humphreys’ corner from 4 yards. Minutes later he missed a similar chance and Sommers was also guilty of missing the target when presented with a free header from close in. Having failed to increase their lead, Wantage nearly made Shortwood pay when in the last minute of the half Afolabi had a shot well saved low down by Tom King and from the resultant corner Deabill rose high but headed over. Josh Egan was substituted for Tim Haddock at half time as a precautionary measure following a clash of heads during the first half.

It looked like Shortwood were going to overrun their opponents especially after Nick Humphreys added a third goal. Starting out wide Humphreys run ended near the byline and as he approached the goal he was able to slip the ball home from an acute angle. Wantage had other ideas though as Shortwood relaxed and they had several chances to narrow the score line. A point blank save from Tom King and a Deabill lob which hit the underside of the bar and bounced out were two of several chances that came Wantage’s way. Shortwood gave a Opoku his debut and his fresh legs gave Shortwood a valuable outlet to relieve the pressure.
What could have been a difficult last ten minutes for Shortwood was abated when Arnau was given a second yellow card for a late tackle on Hancock who was unable to continue. Thomas came on and Shortwood were able to see out the game with ease.

Shortwood travel to Bath City from the Conference South on the 11th for the FA Cup 3rd round qualifying fixture.

King, Rawlings, Humphreys, Thomas A, Lee, Haddock (Egan ht), Langworthy, Hancock (Thomas M 82’), Sommers, Price (Opoku 66’), Bennett, sub not used Sykes, Herbert

Shortwood United

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