Exmouth Town created a small slice of history reaching the second qualifying round of the FA Trophy for the first time following their 4-1 win over Kidlington.
The visitors, buoyed by having beaten Town 2-1 in this competition last season, made the perfect start. Good build up, a calm finish and they were ahead with just two minutes played. But that was to be as good as it got as Town soon settled into their passing game and equalised after eight minutes. A fine through ball from Tom Bath found Ben Griffith gliding into space and his controlled finish found the corner of the net.
As Town continued to drive forward a cross from Griffith found the head of Bath but his effort came back off the foot of the post. Town were not to be denied and the tenacity of Aarron Denny saw him win the ball close to the byline and his cross was turned home by Griffith.
A Louis Morrison piledriver from thirty five yards produced a fine save but the third goal Town clearly needed finally came on sixty one minutes. Bath was brought down when clear on goal and stepped up to send the ‘keeper the wrong way from the penalty spot. Two minutes later it was virtually game over as Bath latched on to a poor clearance to lob the onrushing ‘keeper for a goal of the season contender.
A convincing victory where the whole side played their part and several contenders for Man of the Match but the sponsors, Flipout Somerset, choice was Ben Griffith and richly deserved.
Town were due to play Willand Rovers this Saturday but their Devon rivals are still involved in the FA Cup so they have a re-arranged home game with Yate Town. The visitors, who beat Town 1-0 earlier in the season, are top of the league with a 100% record and defeated Bemerton Heath Harlequins 5-0 in the Trophy last Saturday.
The match will also be in honour of Simon Bull, Bull Dog, who sadly passed away in the summer and there will be a disco in the clubhouse after the match to which everyone are invited to attend from 5.00pm onwards.
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