Report

New Inn battled their way to victory against local rivals Sebastopol thanks to goals from Luke Whittham and Junior Richards.
New Inn named an unchanged lineup as they looked for their fourth consecutive win.
The pitch was bumpy and narrow, making it difficult for New Inn to play their usual passing game. Despite this New Inn took the lead on fifteen minutes when Luke Whittham dribbled through the Sebastopol midfield only to be upended twenty five yards from goal. Whittham picked himself up and fired the free kick through the wall into the bottom corner of the goal. New Inn then doubled their lead when Junior Richards rose highest to head home a Mike Davidge free kick. New Inn had plenty of chances to add to their lead before half time, Nathan Blackwell hitting the post and Luke Whittham denied by an excellent last ditch tackle, but the score remained two nil.
The second half was always going to be a battle but New Inn were almost completely outplayed. Sebast looked a far better side and created chance after chance before they finally pulled a goal back. A long throw from Ian Rosser being headed into the net by Rob Surtees. It was one way traffic for the rest of the first half with Sebst coming closer and closer to an equaliser. Substitute Chris Day should have scored after Brian Gumm fumbled the ball and presented him with an open goal, but Day shot wide. Dave Ellis then saved what looked like a certain goal by hooking the ball off the line before Jamie Bell could nod home. Despite being under constant pressure for the last ten minutes, New Inn hung on to claim a vital three points and move up to fifth in the table.