Sholing 2-0 Paulton Rovers
Scorers : Lee Wort 69, Byron Mason 86
Date: Tuesday 21 February 2023, 7:45pm – Southern League Division 1 South
Venue: Imperial Homes Stadium Attendance: 156
Sholing : Ryan Gosney, Brad Targett (Wayne Robinson 64) Marv McLean, TJ Cuthbertson, Dan Miller, Owen Roundell, Lee Wort, Byron Mason ©, Sami Makhloufi, Charlie Wagstaffe, Jake Cope. Unused subs : Rob Flooks, Dan Mason, Josh Batt, Sam Mould
Bookings : Charlie Wagstaffe
Paulton Rovers : Aaron Sainsbury, Dan Dempsey, Nuno Felix (Joseph Morgan 52), Chris Peck, Dan Restorick, Neil Martin ©, Dan McBeam, Jack Dancey, David O'Hare, Craig Loxton (Kai Williamson 78), Will Hailston
Bookings : Chris Peck, Craig Loxton Red Card : Neil Martin
Powerplus Man of the Match : Byron Mason
Sholing chalked up our 20th win of the season to extend our lead at the top to 10 points and heap more pressure on the chasing pack. Boatmen had to be patient against a resilient Paulton side, but second half goals by Lee Wort & Byron Mason made it an incredible 18 games unbeaten.
Team News : Dan Mason failed a pre-match fitness test, so the Boatmen were without our leading scorer, but still had club record goalscorer Lee Wort leading the line. Jake Cope & Sami were tasked with supporting Worty up front. On the bench for the first time was Sam Mould, part of the Sholing Education scholarship. The Paulton manager and former Bristol City player, Craig Loxton, pulled on his boots and despite naming a full bench on the team sheet, the visitors appeared to only have 1 sub when the game got underway and then another sub materialised during the match.
Apart from a Brad Targett header going well wide, it was a quiet opening to the match, with the visitors quick to close Sholing down. There was an off the ball incident on 15 mins that caused some handbags and the game was stopped for a few minutes. After a long chat with his assistant, the referee got the game back underway without issuing any cautions.
Dan Miller headed a deep corner back into the 6 yard box which was met by Byron, but he nodded straight at the keeper. Paulton's best chance came after some good play around the box saw Hailston flash a shot across Gosney, but narrowly wide of the far post.
From the 30 minute mark, Sholing got our passing & movement more slicker to build momentum going forward. Marv sped past the fullback and his cut back from the byline arrived at Roundell, but he airshot from 15 yards.
Jake Cope was starting to pull strings behind Wort and the two linked up for Lee to smack a fierce shot just wide. Copey then threaded the ball in behind for Wort, but in a race with the keeper, the ball was agonisingly just beyond his outstretched foot and Sainsbury smothered.
A mistake by a Paulton defender presented Copey with the ball inside the box, but his shot went into the side netting. A nice passage of possession football down the right, saw TJ & Cope link up and then Wort flick the ball round the corner for Brad Targett to run into the box from the right flank, but Sainsbury pushed his angled effort across goal and it was cleared. HT 0-0
Sholing continued where we left off and had the bulk of possession at the start of the second half, but only had a low shot from Sami that was saved down by his post, to show for our dominance. Despite not having a great deal to do, Gosney was sharp enough to make a good point blank save as Paulton broke through our defence on the hour mark.
Sholing repeatedly got into good positions, but the final ball was missing. A ball skied into the box just bounced out of the path of Wort as he looked to hook it goalwards. On 63 mins, Diapes made a change with Wayne Robinson coming on for Targett.
We finally made the break-through on 69 minutes from a set piece. A freekick on the half way line was taken by Gosney with his curling delivery into the area met by Byron Mason whose ball back across was met by LEE WORT to smack in his 21st goal of the season.
The goal calmed the game down, with Sholing looking in full control. Wayne Robinson made a couple of exciting runs down the right wing as the clock ticked down and we made sure of the 3 points with 4 mins of normal time remaining...
Charlie Wagstaffe won a freekick out by the left touchline, Sami Makhloufi put pace on his delivery to the near post where BYRON MASON got in front of his marker to meet the ball with an unstoppable header that flashed into the net.
Two minutes into added time, Paulton captain, Neil Martin caught Robinson in the midrift with a high boot and the referee produced a straight red.
The final whistle made it another impressive 3 points earned, retaining our fantastic home record and our 12th clean sheet of the league season. FT 2-0
Dave Diaper : "Another game ticked off and three points in the bag. It was a hard earned win over a much improved Paulton side from our encounter earlier this season. We tried to get the ball down and play through the thirds and had to be patient against a well organised side. However, our persistence paid off. I would like to thank the fans who were very supportive and vocal last night. Your support is so important to the players, so please come along on Thursday to our Soton Senior Cup match v Bashley"
Next Game : Sholing v Bashley - Thursday 23 February 7:45pm - Southampton Senior Cup
Photos courtesy of EspieJaz, swipe to view pics :
