by Ffabian Pugh & Jack Cook
A COMFORTABLE 5-1 victory for USW over Bath Spa, means that they now progress to the second round of the Western Conference Cup.
Bath Spa made the better start of the two sides, with an early free-kick just outside the box, forcing a good save from USW keeper.
USW’s tactic of kicking it long from the defence towards their number 4 was a common occurrence during the first half, although they struggled to capitalize on many of these chances.
USW’s first clear chance of the afternoon came from their number 11. A run down the right-hand side of the pitch left him with space in the box, with his shot forcing a fine save from the keeper.
USW’s pressure began to mount with another fine run by number 11 leading to a well-timed cross into number 4, who with five yards out seemed destined to score but for a brilliant goal-saving block by Bath’s number 5.
The first goal of the game came by the way of a Bath Spa corner. A cross into the centre of the box seemed to strike the hand of the USW defender, but the play was not stopped and Bath’s number 11 was alert to the loose ball and fired into the back of the net.
USW didn’t take long to reply, scoring within minutes of Bath’s lead. A looping cross by USW’s number 19 from the far right of the pitch managed to go straight over the Bath keeper’s head, where it was met at the back post by number 11 who fired in a bullet header past the keeper.
Minutes later USW took the lead in the 40th minute, with number 4 crossing a low ball into number 11’s feet who showed great composure to slot past the keeper.
USW kicked off to start the second half. The first action of the half was a penalty shout for USW, but the referee didn’t give anything.
The first goal of the half was hit beautifully by USW’s number 10 who took the shot from 35 yards and hit the underside of the bar and went in beating the keeper.
From that goal on it was all USW with constant pressure from the team, with chances for USW’s number 4 who hit the post on the 50-minute mark.
Good play from USW whose midfield sent a lovely through ball to Number 11, who did well to beat his man and put in a driven pass which made it all the way to the back post, where Number 10 slotted it home nicely past the keeper.
USW played plenty of through balls behind the Bath Spa defence. One of the two forwards got on the end of the pass throughout the second half, with USW creating a lot of chances that they wasted.
USW’s number 9 did brilliantly down the left-hand side and beat the defence and slotted it past the keeper in the roof of the net, to make it 5-1 to USW.
Star player: USW’s number 10
Incident log:
34th minute- Goal Bath Spa: Number 11
37th minute- Goal USW: Number 4
40th minute- Goal USW: Number 11
52nd minute- Goal USW: Number 10
58th minute- Goal USW: Number 10
89th minute- Goal USW: Number 9
