SANTOS 2-4 BSXI

Shield Semi-Final
Welton Rangers 0 v Castle Green 2

A very competitive game, and one that we cannot feel too aggrieved at losing.

Castle Green were the better team in the first half and settled into the play a lot quicker. A very nicely struck, dipping volley from 20 yards put them one nil up at half time.

Second half was a completely different story. CG set up to defend and did so very well, getting two banks of 4 behind the ball at all times and playing well on the break. We were spurred on at HT by the CG manager's cry of "we've got them in our back pocket", and we totally dominated the play and possession in the second 45 (though CG always looked very dangerous on the break).

All in all, a deserved victory for Castle Green. I feel they set up much better against us this time, compared to our 5-3 victory in the league a fortnight ago, not least in their manager's decision to drop the slow, old fella that played at centre half against us in that match. Their defence looked very safe, compared to last time round.

Best of luck to them in the final.

ps. I trust my match report won't be deleted this time ;)

Widcombe 5 - BUCU 3

Not a great game from us today, we didnt play our usual football mainly due to losing half our team on a church weekend away. Widcombe had 5 chances throughout the game and finished them all with aplomb. We didn't get to grips with the hard bouncy surface and all credit to widcombe for winning.

I thought we probably deserved a draw but if you don't take your chances or test the keeper you can't get goals! So in fairness widcombe deserved the win.

Looking forward to next week though, hoping to start anoter winning run by beating thornbury again and keeping our promotion hopes alive...

Bucu scorers: jack Edmondson 2, nick hough

Hillfields 6 v Nailsea 1

Our biggest win in the top division, we really needed this win today. Had we lost I think it would have been curtains, but now we are sixth and know we have to work hard to stay there.

Nailsea started the better and had good chances to take the lead with Tom making some good saves and the defence making some crucial blocks and clearences. Although Nailsea were on top chance wise, we were always deadly on the counter and in skye we had a man hungry for ball and a goal and the Nailsea defence couldn't handle him. Hillfields came into it more and should of had the lead with Matt heading onto the bar and James having a corner cleared off the line. However with minutes to go James delivered a great corner which hit the cross bar and post came out hit the defender on the line and went in.

HT 1-0

Second half Hillfields started brightly and some great work from Skye saw him lay in James who finished brilliantly into the far corner, the third was similar to the second Skye again working it well and laying in James who squeezed it in. The fourth was a good individual effort as Leon ran throught the Nailsea defence and hit a shot which went in off of the post. The fifth was again a great indivdual goal, Rich found Skye who turned his defender and smashed it in on his left in off of the post. Nailsea then got a deserved consolation with Moulding crossing for someone to tap home. Then right on full time, Hillfields broke Tom feeding Leon who found Joe Allen who cut back and hammered a left foot shot home into the far post.

A great win for us today was nice to score some goals and with Skye playing today he made a massive difference as he gave their defence no time. puts us back in the survival hunt and also brings our goal difference closer to Nailsea -17 to -14 was -22 and -9 before KO.

Well done to Castle Green and Damien Wignall (on making his third shield final) look forward to playing Slip next week in the other semi should be a good game hope we can give them a better game than our last cup game together.

Pip n Jay 5 Woodies 2. Just don't quite know how we lost this game dominating it at 2-0. Suddenly in the 2nd half ken came to life and we just didn't cope. He ran riot and scored 4. All the best to pip n Jay in the final. A great occasion to be in, let's just hope they win. Will be all the more galling when I see ken at Woodies on a Sunday!!!

Welton Rangers 0-2 Castle Green - BCFA Shield semi final

So here's the problem, the first semi final for the club, 8 players unavailable, two occasional players drafted in to make a squad of 13 and that 13 only includes 2 defenders! So what do you do?

Well today the answer was to move the right winger into one centre back position and a left winger into left back, defend from the front and hope for the best. To say I'm proud of the lads today is an understatement! Well done boys, I'm still grinning now!

We started brightly and created some chances. Then Mike Clifton cracked a 20 yard volley dipping over the Welton keeper to put us one up. The half continued with quite a battle in the middle of the pitch, which led to mistakes by both sides with the surface making it hard to control the ball. Litterally right on the half time whistle the CG defence made a slip, sending a Welton lad through on goal, Matt James went full stretch and tipped over the bar. The CG supporters club blew a breath of relieve and the ref blew his whistle, phew! HT 0-1

After Welton's half time motivating "back pocket" team talk from yours truely (school boy error), the Welton lads came out and gave us the hardest 25 mins of football we have had all season. They chucked the kitchen sink at us, while the makeshift CG defence and midfield soaked it like a sponge, while breaking with pace down the flanks, where there was some decent grass to play football. The second half was one incredible battle.

On 70 mins Mike Alvis came in off of the left flank and drilled a low drive into the far corner from 18 yards out.

FT 0-2. Castle Green's first final.

I hope Welton don't beat themselves up too much about this result, their application, drive and sheer determination has given us 3 very tough games this season, none more so than today. They have a great young side building there and we at Castle Green wish them all the best for the rest of the season. Winning a game is one thing, winning respect is another.

Cheers lads.

The "slow old fella"

He told me he has been playing??

Damien hasn't been fit since the end of October and hampered also by work shifts on Saturday mornings. Today takes the biscuit today though...unavailable because he had XFactor show tickets! Needless to say that the boy will be spoken to!

Kensington Baptist 0 Thornbury Baptist 1

Thornbury win the Div 2 'Battle of the Baps'....and it certainly was a battle. The pitch was really bad but both sides played some good football despite the big clumps of mud. Cat Hancox's winner had a whiff of luck as his scuffed shot bobbled like crazy over the line (and the keeper's leg) but we were not lucky hitting the woodwork 4 times. Kensington lost their centre back very early on which didn't help them as they had to move a few players around.

We battled really well today and restricted their forwards to scraps until the last few minutes when we had a couple of scares as they laid siege to our goal. It wasn't pretty, but it's a massive 3 points for us.

Kensington were gracious in defeat and one of their guys (he moved from the back to midfield/up front), he may have been number 13 (can't remember) had an outstanding attitude to the game particularly when some of his team mates were irate with an offside decision - a class act and it's players like him that set the BCFA apart from other leagues.

Makes the promotion run in interesting now...with BUCU losing who on their day can beat anyone in this league. Another 6 pointer V Castle Green next Saturday.

Also glad to see Pistols had a good game today representing Div 2 in the Shield despite the defeat.

Didn't mean to come across as harsh, just a little frustrated that the lads lost. I have missed half their games this season so cannot really comment on Nailseas' season as a whole only on the games I have seen.

Even though I no longer play or am involved with the running of the club I still regard them as my team and would prefer to go and watch them play rather than say Bristol City or Rovers. Even though I couldn't make todays game I still had my club polo shirt on! Is that proper fanship or what? Or sad!

I just hate it when they lose, Nailsea have some really good players, I have know a lot of them for a long time and they are a really good bunch of lads. I really want to see them stay up, they are good enough, perhaps I need have more faith. Mmm that's a thing to write on a church forum!

Still plenty of football left to play.

Will be interesting to see if Santos can do a Pip n Jay and put a late run together and stay up and will Pip N Jay who being out of the relegation places at this stage of the season for the first time in a couple seasons put a run together and get relegated!

Christchurch or BSXI for the title or will a late challanger gate crash the party!