Report

Amesbury suffered a narrow 1-2 defeat at Downton in their first Pre-season friendly. There was plenty of encouraging signs against their Premier division opponents. Downton had the better of the game but they had already one match under their belt and many of the side where responsible for their 6th place Premier division last season.

Downton started well with Nic Turpin fired over the bar on 9 minutes and another Amesbury old boy, Danny Finnigan, shot from outside the box but new Amesbury keeper Danny Magee was able to gather comfortably.
On 15 minutes Nathan Jones set up Craig Wheeler with a neat flick but Wheeler was twarted by the legs of Downton stopper, Charles Aldridge. Downton took the lead on 31 minutes when Declan McGregor set up Nic Turpin who finished well from close range. The game was competitive without many chances being created.  Just after half time Amesbury's sub keeper, Danny Harrison,  made a trademark point blank save from McGregor to keep the score to 1-0. Ten minutes into the 2nd half McGregor shot over from close in under good pressure by Ryan Jones. Harrison charged out to stop Nic Turpin who had got clear but his clearance unfortunately found McGregor who found himself with an open goal but his lob from distance cleared the bar. On the hour Downton increased their lead when McGregor smashed  home through a crowd of players after a corner and they almost made it three within a minute when McGregor once again did well down the left to set up Turpin whose shot crashed against the post. Amesbury kept going and Nathan Barnett robbed a defender and nearly set up Nathan Jones for a golden chance before a defender managed to recover the situation. A  consolation came four minutes from time when a deep Derek Barclay free kick from the left evaded the Downton defence and Steve McCallum was on hand to touch the ball home on his first game in Amesbury colours.

Amesbury Town (All Blue) 1 Danny Magee (1 Danny Harrison HT) 2 Connor Palmer (12 Joe Walters 18, 12 Steve McCallum HT) 3 Ben Pryce (15 Derek Barclay HT) 4 Duncan Smith (14 Nathan Barnett HT) 5 Ryan Jones (8 Tyler Brockway 66) 6 Gareth Horner (played full 90) 7 Toni Camilleri (2 Connor Palmer 66) 8 Tyler Brockway (17 Chris Ward HT) 9 Tom Western (16 Ollie Vines HT) 10 Nathan Jones (9 Tom Western 72) 11 Craig Wheeler (7 Joe Walters 72).

Downton (Red/White/Red) 1 Charles Aldridge 2 Jamie Waters 3 Will Knight 4 Josh Thomas 5 Ben Smith 6 Danny Finnigan 7 Joe Dorrington 8 Vince Rusher 9 Declan McGregor 10 Nic Turpin 11 Danny Urry 12 Matt Palmer 14 Paul Gulliver 15 Jack Brooks.

Ref Andy Brown
Attendance about 42

New feature for 2012/13 - Supporters player of the match : Gareth Horner : prefers to play full back but had an outstanding match at centre back. Only Blues player to play the full 90. 
* player of the match will be taken from the opinion of random Blues supporters after each game.  So don't blame me apart from when I'm the only one there !