16th August 2008 Trowbridge Town 3 Purton FC 4 by Paul King
Trowbridge were involved once again in a entertaining match at Woodmarsh but ended up losing by the odd goal in 7.
Purton started brighter and took the lead after only 5 minutes, when Charlie Haydon couldn't keep out a corner and palmed into his own net. Two minutes later Purton doubled there lead when there Purton's Andy Philpott finished well from the edge of the area. Trowbridge continued to battle back and Guy Rowley,Tom Berrington and Craig Fisher all missed glorious chances to score. Trowbridge did pull one back when Waleed Bakali was put through by Ashley Benison and he neatly rounded the keeper to slot home. Trowbridge equalised midway through the half when Mike Barnes was pulled down in the area. Adam Glover stepped up for the penalty but the Purton Goalkeeper saved but only for Mike Little to follow in the rebound. Then 5 minutes of madness cost Trowbridge 2 goals. Again not dealing with a corner the Purton captain, Adrian Roper rifled home a header from 5 yards. Two minutes later Trowbridge were again punished when a quick free kick was taken, Trowbridge were half asleep and Jonathan Coole nipped in at the back post to make the score 4-2 at half time. In the 2nd half Trowbridge dominated the play and with the impressive substitute Jake Little crossing in the 52nd minute for Tom Berrington to head home to bring Trowbridge back into the game. Trowbridge continued to push forward and again missed chances and in the final minutes of the game Ashley Bension headed over the Purton Keeper only for him to pull off a world class save to keep the ball out. It was not going to be Trowbridge's day and once again poor defending from set pieces and many missed chances cost Trowbridge dearly.
12th August 08 Trowbridge Town 0 Tytherington Rocks 1 By Ned Payne
Trowbridge Town conceded a sickening late goal as they lost 1-0 to Tytherington Rocks on the opening day of the Hellenic League Division One season.
Steve Thompson's glorious strike three
minutes from time ensured the visitors went home with all three
points on Tuesday evening. An even start meant it took 20
minutes for the first serious attempt on goal, with Trowbridge's
Craig Fisher smacking a hopeful 25-yard effort off target. More
Bees pressure followed as Ashley Benison played a neat one-two
but saw his shot from the edge of the area fly high and wide.
Tytherington began to come back into it and goalkeeper Charlie
Heydon took two attempts to gather Daniel Thompson's cross-shot
on 32 minutes.
With half time looming, a fizzing strike from Luke Garbacz
deflected for a corner and on 44 minutes Daniel Thompson blazed
wildly off target from 20 yards.
Benison scooped a free kick over the bar after the restart
before Nicholas Jones hit a tame strike straight at Heydon on 50
minutes. Daniel Thompson had the Trowbridge rearguard
back-pedalling soon after with a tricky run, but Heydon got down
smartly to his crisply hit strike. On the hour The Bees had
their best chance of the match from a set piece on the right
flank. The ball was swung in and Mike Little's glancing header
was acrobatically tipped over by Robert Dent. Tytherington's
Christian Irwin nearly put past his own goalkeeper on 71 minutes
before he came within inches of sliding home at the other end
soon after. In between Craig Fisher had beaten Dent to a cross
from a set piece but nodded wide under pressure from the
Tytherington stopper.
Only a last-ditch challenge prevented Benison stabbing home with
10 minutes left and soon after Little dinked over the crossbar
on the stretch. Mark Viner headed a Garbacz cross over the bar
on 86 minutes before Steve Thompson struck the winner seconds
later. The Tytherington striker jinked away from his man and
curled a wonderful 20-yard strike into the left corner, with a
palm from Heydon not enough to keep it out.
9th August 08 Fairford Town 4 Trowbridge Town 0 by Paul King
An Awful day at Fairford for 1st team but tremendous for the Reserves.
The 1st team travelled to Fairford for their last pre-season friendly and produced by far there worst performance to lose 5-0.
The whole day was a shambles when a 1 hour journey took the players over 2 hours to arrive at the ground right on kick off after a pile up on the motorway. With no warm up or team talk Trowbridge looked under pre-prepared and again without Guy Rowley, Waleed Bakali and Jake Little looked a very average team. Trowbridge conceded after 15 minutes when a mix up in defence let the centre forward slip through to score from close range. The game was then stopped for 45 minutes when one of the Fairford Players was unlucky to break his leg. When the game re-started Trowbridge were no better and conceded again when the ball was not cleared properly and once again were punished.
Half-Time 2-0
The 2nd half was slightly better but again simple mistakes cost Trowbridge dearly as Fairford rattled home 3 more goals
Full-Time 5-0
Today’s game was terrible but we are hoping lots of lessons have been learnt and how important that pre-match preparation is. I know these players are deeply upset by today’s game and will endeavour to put things right as the season progresses. The less said about today the better!!!
30th July 2008 Shepton Mallet 4 Trowbridge Town 2 by Paul King
Trowbridge fell to defeat against Western league Shepton Mallet in a game of two halves.
Trowbridge from the start of the game pressed Shepton and were rewarded mid way through the half when good link up play between Scott Askew and Waleed Bakali set up Guy Rowley to score his 2nd goal in as many games with a neat finish from close range. Trowbridge continued to dominate and were rewarded with a second goal when Craig Browns corner went straight in to give Trowbridge a comfortable lead. Trowbridge were creating numerous chances and Guy, Waleed and Ali Jaffari should have extended their lead. Just before half time, Trowbridge conceded a soft goal when indecision in the 6 yard area cost them dear as the Shepton striker nipped in to head home.
Half Time 1-2
Again Trowbridge made changes and this affected the whole balance of the team along with some indifferent referring decisions (that is me being kind to the ref!!!!!!!!). In the 1st 10 minutes of the 2nd half Trowbridge conceded 3 quick goals the 1st after a controversial free kick was headed home from close range, the 2nd from a sloppy back pass and the 3rd straight from a corner when the ball did not actually cross the line!! Trowbridge after regaining their composure and their discipline both on the pitch and on the bench, did slowly get back into the game and again missed chances cost the team dear, as Ali, Mike Little and Jake Hiscox were all unlucky not to score. But the final score remained 4-2 to Shepton Mallet.
Managers Verdict:
Fantastic 1st half performance where we
took the game to Shepton and were deserved half time leaders
should have been more. Losing Guy Rowley, Dean Ranger and Jake
Little affected the whole balance of the team , due to some
awful refereeing decisions where the referee was desperate to
make a issue out everything and the teams lack of discipline for
the 1st 15 minutes of the 2nd half this cost Trowbridge dearly.
We must learn that sometimes you get referees like the one we
had tonight and just get on with the game, once we got back to
concentrating and some shape we once again looked a threat. We
are not that far off and if we can knuckle down and produce that
1st half performance on a consistent basis, it should be an
interesting season and we may produce a few surprises this
season.
Kintbury Rangers FC 2 Trowbridge Town FC 1 by Paul King
Another close game against a very good Kintbury Rangers. The 1st half was a very close half with Trowbridge probably deserving to have sneaked it. Mike Little came close twice but was unlucky with a header which was tipped around the corner and should have done better with a left foot volley. Trowbridge continued to push forward and the impressive Guy Rowley scored with a great header from a good free kick from Dom to give Trowbridge the lead. With Waleed Bakali controlling the midfield Trowbridge looked comfortable with their lead. Kintbury equalized late into the half when the linesman flagged for offside but decided it wasn't, as the Kintbury centre forward stood by himself in Trowbridges' penalty to head home. Half time 1-1
The 2nd half with number of changes, Trowbridge never looked so comfortable with a couple of players playing out of position. Both teams created chances with Guy Rowley,Sam Mcqueen and Jamie Jordan squandering good chances to give Trowbridge the lead. With around 10 minutes to go Kintbury scored the winner when the right winger slipped in blindside to score with a neat finish.
Again number of good positives from the game.All the defence looked very good including Nathan Taylor in goal, with Waleed Bakali and |Guy Rowley again putting in good performances in midfield and attack. Paul Gittins, Dom and Joe Stradling all looked sharp and good to see Mike Little get his 1st 45 minutes in. Just a shame Trowbridge lost Craig Fisher and Dean Murden early on which effected the shape of the team. All in all another good pre season game
Squad: N Taylor, A Glover, D Crease, C Brown, J Little, W Bakali, S Mcqueen, C Fisher, P Gittins, Dom, J Batstone, L Hayward, J Jordan, D Murden, R Pike, M Little and J Stradling
19th July 2008 Ilfracombe 2 Trowbridge Town 1 by Paul King
After the short trip to Ilfracombe of the Western Premier League!!! Trowbridge knew this would be the hardest test they has faced since the comings and goings of pre season.
After 5 minute's Trowbridge were 1-0 down after a mix up in defence lead to Ilfracombes Top Goalscorer last year nipping in for a easy finish. Trowbridge managed to settle and were soon making chances for themselves with Guy Rowley,Craig Fisher and Waleed Bakali all going close with efforts. The football from both sides was very good but at half-time Ilfracombe managed to hold onto the lead with Guy Rowley unlucky not equalise when his header was superbly saved from the Ilfracombe goalkeeper.
With changes from Trowbridge for the 2nd Half they continued where they left on in the 1st half and pushed forward and again came close through a Paul Gittins free kick. Ilfracombe doubled their lead midway through the 2nd half when a mistake again in defence cost them dearly and Nathan Taylor was left with no chance in the Trowbridge goal. Trowbridge continued to push forward creating chances and were rewarded after 75 minutes when Danny Amaruso slipped Lee Hayward through who calmly slotted home from 12 yards. With 5 minutes left Trowbridge were awarded a penalty when Ali Jaffari was brought down inside the area. Ali picked himself up to take the penalty but was unlucky to see his spot kick well saved by the impressive Ilfracombe Goalkeeper. Trowbridge continued to push forward but could not get the equaliser they deserved.
Another impressive pre-season performance from Trowbridge against higher league opposition, just showing that with the right attitude and effort that a lot of players will be able to make the step up to Senior football.
Squad: N.Taylor, J.Holdway, M.Hunt, D.Amaruso, L.Hayward, P.Gittins, A.Glover, D.Crease, G.Rowley, J.Batstone, A Jaffari, C.Fisher, D.Crease, T.Berrington, J.Little, W.Bakali, T.Parr and S. Mcqueen.
14th July 2008 Larkhall Athletic 1 Trowbridge Town 0 by Paul King
Trowbridge lost their 1st pre-season friendly away at Larkhall at Bath University. With Trowbridge not playing a number of key players due to the game at Ilfracombe, the players who stepped in did themselves and the club proud and showed what potential is in the club. In the 1st half, Larkhall with all there 1st team playing had lots of possession but did not really test Charlie Haydon in goal. Larkhall did make the break through when Dan Kovacs was awarded a slightly dubious penalty with 5 minutes of the half left. Lee Collier slotted the penalty home.
The 2nd half, with many changes from both sides produced a more even half with Larkhall going close a couple of times, but also Trowbridge were unlucky not to get a penalty when Ali Jaffari was brought down just on the edge of the area. Trowbridge also missed 2 good chances to equalize through the impressive Ali Jaffari and Tom Mackinder.
On balance Larkhall probably deserved their win with the possession they had, but Trowbridge were impressive with all players stepping up and showing they can compete at the higher level. I cannot single out players, as everybody played and battled well against this experienced Western League Team who are favourites to win their league. It was nice to see Charlie Haydon make his debut in goal and looked very assured he will certainly be a asset to the squad. I would like to thank Larkhall for sorting out the pitch and officials and to all the supporters who made the journey over to Bath.
Trowbridge Squad:
C.Haydon, R.Pike, C.Brown, S.Fox, J.Batstone, S.Meredith, J.Hismal, M.Barnes, L.Murden, P.Spong, J.Jordan, K.James, M.Towler, S.Hulbert, A.Jaffari, J.Kirkpatrick, T.Mackinder, L.Fisher and C.Davies