SANDFORD FC 2-1 WITHERIDGE

IT was another home derby on Saturday at the George V playing fields when Sandford took on their near neighbours Witheridge in a division six fixture.

On a beautiful spring afternoon, Sandford were missing a few regular players who were unavailable and in the pre-match warm-up lost defender Noah Addis through injury.

The home side kicked off playing towards the pavilion and after just one minute were lucky when a mistake in their defence nearly led to Witheridge scoring.

Less than a minute later, Sandford took the lead when left winger James Durand scored. 1-0.

On six minutes, the visitors had a free kick outside the box, which went wide of the Sandford post. Minutes later, they had a corner from which they shot over the bar.

Sandford were enjoying more of the play, but could not make it pay. On 23 minutes, Matt Baker shot wide of the Witheridge goal.

Then, six minutes later, right winger Luke Cassar scored to make it 2-0.

The second half saw the visitors kick off, and it wasn't long before they came more into the game putting Sandford’s defence under pressure.

More chances fell to Sandford with both Sam Reeves and substitute Reece Kelly shooting over and Matt Baker going wide.

On 63 minutes, home keeper Charles Headley made a brilliant double save to stop the visitors scoring.

More chances went begging, and it looked like Sandford might curse their luck with Witheridge coming close to scoring on several occasions.

The game reached 90 minutes and went into injury time when a shot through Sandford’s penalty area gave the visitors a goal. 2-1.

A nervous few more minutes went by before the final whistle. This win keeps the pressure on second place in the league.

Next Saturday, Sandford are away at Chagford. Kick off 3pm.

AJH