Sunday 10 December 2017

Southmead 0-4 Keynsham Town
Keynsham walked away with a somewhat flattering score-line of 4-0 away to Southmead. The teams last met only one week ago, when a last-minute Will Humble equaliser denied Southmead of all three points. Even so, Keynsham felt hard done by with the result, and were keen to come away with all three points this time around. This was made particularly tricky by a very muddy playing surface. Both teams struggled with this, and there were very few chances of note. In the opening 25 minutes, only Keynsham’s Toby Cooke went close when put through by Alex Weeks, but his shot went past the post. 26 minutes in, Cooke crafted a chance of his own, dribbling past three Southmead players, but again the resultant shot was wide. Still Southmead offered nothing, and on 36 minutes, Keynsham broke the deadlock. The ball bounced around the box, and after numerous attempts to shoot, it was Will Humble who curled the ball to the right of the keeper, making it two in two games against the same opponent. Just before half time, Keynsham were able to double their lead, when Adam Smale fed through to Cooke. One of the Southmead defenders seemed to have the situation under control, by Cooke’s blistering pace meant he reached the ball ahead of the defender, and put the ball into the net.
HT: Southmead 0-2 Keynsham Town
Southmead’s second half improvement was evident just four minutes after the restart. One of the Southmead attackers was sent through one-on-one with Keynsham’s keeper Joe Hawker, and calmly curled the ball towards the bottom right corner. The ball hit the inside of the post and rolled along the line. The attacker reached the ball before Hawker could, but incredibly was only able to hit the other post before the ball rebounded off him for a goal kick. Two minutes later a Southmead corner was expertly headed off the line by Keynsham centre-back Sam Dawson. Southmead continued to dominate the early stages, but there was no reward for their efforts. Keynsham were restricted to counter attacks, and on 75 minutes, this tactic came to fruition. Striker Kelan Dix received the ball from the left and was chopped down in the area, winning a penalty. The spot kick was taken by Captain Charlie Stacey. It certainly wasn’t the most convincing of efforts, but still made it into the net, the Southmead keeper only able to get a toe onto the ball having already dived the wrong way. Southmead responded instantly, forcing Joe Hawker into a fantastic flying save to deny a headed goal. However, by this time their defensive structure was non-existent, with every Keynsham counter looking likely to result in a goal. With just a minute left to play, Toby Cooke received the ball just inside Southmead’s half. He sprinted down the left hand side, and used expert control to carry the ball past two Southmead defenders into the box. From here he poked the ball to strike partner Kelan Dix who prodded home. Southmead had plenty of chances to take Keynsham’s clean sheet away, but they won’t be able to argue with the final result.
FT: Southmead 0-4 Keynsham Town