9/1/16: Following the festive break the league campaign resumed on Saturday and after an extended run of defeats Mendip finally ended their barren spell and registered a well-deserved win against local rivals Keynsham to lift themselves off the foot of the Central 2 table. Mendip took to the field with a full strength team and more than matched the visitors during the opening exchanges with neither side being able to gain the upper hand as they both tentatively probed each other’s line up for weakness. Rich Briscoe and Will Lawton provided the skill and creativity in midfield and finding their stride they ran at the Keynsham defence at every opportunity to open up valuable space and release the front men on the attack. Seasoned strikers Steve Smith and John Lippiatt led the line prodigiously as always but when 2nd team current top scorer Chris Hampshire was introduced midway through the half he was an absolute revelation as he took on the defence head on with his robust presence and determination. Both sides were equally matched and more or less cancelled each other out during the first half so goal scoring chances were few and far between, largely limited to a number of short corners but Keynsham did manage to carve out a few opportunities in open play with Leigh Taylor in the Mendip goal making 2 or 3 magnificent saves to keep the hosts in the match at 0 – 0 going into the half time break. Mendip came out in the 2nd half and showed their intent from the start by pushing forward and it was Hampo who eventually opened the scoring when he ran into the channel and received the ball on the wide right, beating the full back, cutting inside and when the keeper came out to narrow the angle he coolly slotted past for an exquisite solo goal. From then on Mendip defended as solidly as ever. James England is fast growing into his new role as centre back and put in another impressive performance alongside stalwarts Giles Denning and James Lovell, plus with Max Spalding making his debut the quartet proved to be an impregnable unit with Leigh being a virtual spectator for long periods. With a squad of 16 at their disposal Mendip were afforded the rare luxury of rotating their subs giving much needed respite to key players so when a rejuvenated Hampo was introduced with about 15 minutes to go he was instrumental in Mendip’s 2nd goal with an almost carbon copy of their 1st but this time when attacking the D he looked up to slide a delicious pass into John’s path who simply could not miss from 5 metres out. Taking no chances in the closing minutes the hosts shut up shop and saw out the remainder of the match without too much concern for a hugely important victory. Under any other circumstances Hampo would surely have won man-of-the-match but that prestigious award went to Leigh in recognition of his 1st half match winning saves and the first clean sheet of the season.
The squad was: Leigh Taylor, Andy Flint (Capt.), Giles Denning, James England, James Lovell, Josh Sutton, Andy Wood, Will Lawton, Rich Briscoe, Liam Young, Steve Smith, John Lippiatt, Max Spalding, Keelan Shearn, Will Holmes and Chris Hampshire.
Thanks to Hayley Bullock and Hayley Young for umpiring.
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