Westbury United 2 Willand Rovers 3 (7th October 2023)
Unlike the majority of the non-local grounds I go to, this wasn’t my first visit to Westbury. This was however, my first game. I’d previously arrived in the ground for a Boxing Day fixture, only to find the opposition had called the game off with little warning, saying some of their squad had covid.
That game had been a local derby against Bradford Town, but today’s visitor’s Willand Rovers, were from 80 miles away, near Tiverton, as pointed out by Westbury’s PA announcer, whose jovially informative intonation throughout sounded like he was just waiting for the National Lottery voice-over job to become available.
Another change since my previous visit was the erection of a new fence around the ground, which would disappoint those who might have preferred to watch the game from their car in inclement weather, although that would not be an issue on such a gloriously sunny October day.
Also smartened up was Westbury’s White Horse, visible from a few corners of the ground, which was now white again, rather than being the colour of old underpants on my last visit.
220 people were in the ground for this one, their first back since a temporary groundshare at Melksham, forced on them by changing room size regulations. Most of that 220 were huddled into the corner of the ground which had the two stands, and the clubhouse and tea bar. The main stand was unusually set back quite a distance from the touchline. Signs asked people not to stand in the the yellow hatched area in front, and while most complied, a few had the opinion that standing in a bit of it was probably OK. Things are clearly more relaxed around these parts.
Less relaxed was the referee, keen to make his mark, he sent off a Westbury player after just three minutes. The fact that at the exact time of the challenge, I was eating some chips, makes it difficult to judge the validity of the red card, but with Westbury playing the table toppers, an away win now looked very likely. While that was the outcome, the script had a few twists and turns along the way.
While there was no doubt the man advantage was giving Willand an edge, Westbury weren’t playing like a team planning on keeping it tight for the next 87 minutes and hoping for a draw. The reward for this was taking the lead on 21 minutes, with a shot across the keeper into the far corner, showing the men in green were not going to be overawed by the situation.
Willand hit back quickly though. They’d already had one shot from the edge of the box hit low and wide, when there should have been a better outcome, but there was no mistake second time round. The home keeper couldn’t get down and across fast enough, and the shot went into the bottom corner to draw things level.
Even so I think most would probably have been expecting the visitors to assert their authority with their man advantage, but early in the second half Westbury went in front again. With the sound of a rather loud expletive echoing around the ground, Westbury were put through. The ball was clipped past the onrushing keeper, and then tapped into an empty net from close range.
And when Willand had a player of their own sent off shortly after, it was looking good for the home side. They played with some real confidence. One shot cannoned back of the crossbar, but the closest they came to making it 3-1 was when the away keeper seemed to fumble an awkward backpass on the goal line. It did look very suspiciously like it had crossed the line, but the referee waved away the appeals, as Westbury’s fortunes turned against them.
With a couple of minutes they were down to nine men, due to injury, with no remaining substitutes. This left them eleven minutes, plus time added on, to hang on. Unfortunately Willand hit back very quickly to draw level, with one Willand player seeming to ‘pass on some greetings’ to some of the home fans in response to the equaliser. The same player was, shortly after, told to ‘shut the f___ up!” by one of his own teammates, which doesn’t happen every week.
The focus now was definitely on whether Westbury could hold out against the odds. They did, until the 94th minute, when another low far post shot found the bottom corner. Delight for the visitors, but agony for Westbury after such an afternoon of effort from the whole team.
Was it a deserved win? I’m sure all at Willand Rovers will say yes. They had most of the play, and the attacking moves. Westbury though, will no doubt feel that such an effort, coupled with the obstacles they faced, deserved at least some reward. Sadly for them, that’s football, I guess.
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