28/11/16: Although Mendip’s league predicament did not improve on Saturday 28th November following yet another defeat, in the lead up to the match their all-round demeanour was much more positive as they faced Bristol & West A on a wet and windy afternoon at Norton Hill.
Putting last week’s catastrophic display behind them Mendip threw off the shackles and decided to play a free flowing game and in the early minutes they put the visitors on the back foot with Josh and Will in the midfield having a huge influence on proceedings.
Mendip played as a much tighter unit and supported each other much better than in previous weeks and when they worked the ball into a dangerous area down the left a fizzing cross into the D was turned in with dexterous reflexes by centre forward John Lippiatt to take a well-deserved lead. However, Mendip then sat back and invited B&W to attack and with several nippy midfield players interchanging passes around them the Mendip defence was unable to stand firm and the equaliser was not long in coming.
Taking a grip on the game, Bristol then swarmed forward and showed good awareness of each other’s surroundings playing deft little touches and first time passes and they took the lead after a swift counter attack split the defence wide open, giving Leigh absolutely no chance.
Following the goal Mendip did tighten up their marking significantly largely due to Pete Waddington displaying a mature discipline in his defensive midfield role that allowed the hosts to go into the break only trailing by the solitary goal.
Feeling they were still very much in the game Mendip came out in the 2nd half and continued to try and play an expansive style that relied heavily on their wide men and going forward they did create some good opportunities but on the counter the B&W front line were very adept at dragging the Mendip full backs out of position which left gaping holes for the midfield runners to fill and it was not long before Mendip found themselves under pressure again, with the pace of the attacks making it difficult to resist without conceding a plethora of unnecessary short corners and eventually the visitors extended their lead from one of those set pieces.
John and Steve worked tirelessly up front to make the runs into space but were largely starved of service and as the half progressed they became more & more isolated as the Mendip midfield started to labour. In possession Mendip’s play was still very neat but lacked any real creativity and whereas their attack was largely toothless, the visitors were much more incisive and looked dangerous every time they ventured forward so try as they could Mendip could not wrestle any semblance of control and two further unanswered goals made the final score 5 – 1.
The team was: Leigh Taylor, Ben Beechener, Giles Denning, Andy Flint (Capt.), Toby Green, Josh Sutton, Pete Waddington, Will Lawton, Liam Young, John Lippiatt and Steve Smith.
Thanks to Carol Holmes and Paul Woolway for umpiring.
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