Chippenham Town 2 Warminster Town 0
CHIPPENHAM TOWN strolled to an easy victory against Warminster on Saturday.
Commenting on his team's performance in the preliminary round of Les Phillips Knock-out Cup match, Chippenham manager Tommy Saunders said: "Sometimes it's just about going through, and not necessarily about playing great football."
Although Chippenham dominated the game. Warminster's defence, and especially their goalkeeper James Smith should be given full credit.
The Warminster keeper threw himself in front of a seemingly endless onslaught by the Chippenham forwards, and ended the game with a cut on his ear, after diving at the feet of a Chippenham player.
Warminster manager Gerry Pearson, took an optimistic view on the game saying: "I think that we did quite well. For 35 minutes we were superb in defence. And if you're going to get knocked out, it might as well be by the champions."
Warminster defended well, despite some good attempts by Nick Tiley. The visitors were clearly unsettled, and five minutes into the game, Nick Welsby was booked for a foul on Toby Jackson.
Chippenham set the pace in the first half, and would have scored early on, had it not been for the Warminster keeper and some hard work by the defence.
However, the quick, controlled passing of the Chippenham forwards eventually wore Warminster down, and in the 38th minute Nick Tiley got his head to the ball from a corner, to open the scoring for Chippenham.
Six minutes later, a long throw from Jackson found Mark Cutler in space. The number 10 swung an excellent cross in which once again found Tiley who got his second goal from another header.
Chippenham were looking strong, and the premier division side kept up the pressure early on in the second half.
Warminster seemed more organised up front in the second half though, and it started to look like a more even match could develop.
The Warminster number three Jason Manley was booked early on, and Chippenham came close with a free kick, that went just wide.
Then a foul by Chippenham's Neil Rosslee on Warminster's John Hayter saw Rosslee booked, and Warminster with a free kick just outside Chippenhams area. A chance for Warminster to get back in the game was wasted, with a soft shot.
Chippenham continued to run things, and Warminster found themselves boxed in their own half, only getting the occasional chance to make runs forward.
When Warminster did get forward though, they came very close to scoring.
James Theobald produced some good chances for Warminster, and Karl Diment also came quite close on a number of occasions.
Meanwhile, Devizes Town secretary Chris Dodd was very pleased for his squad, after they picked up ther Team of the Month for October in the Screwfix Direct Western League Premier Division.
"We're over the moon," said Dodd. "I would imagine it's because of the cup run, and I'm very pleased for the players because they've been rewarded for all of their hard work," he added.
Dodd expressed his delight at the way his team has coped with the higher demands of the Premier Division, following their championship winning season in the First Division last year.
"We've made the step up and shown that we can hold our own in this league," said Dodd.
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