Somerset Division two West

Worle 1 Highbridge Town 3

“WE are getting stronger and stronger each week” – that’s the message from Highbridge Town manager Matt Pitt after his side cruised to a 3-1 win at Worle on Saturday.

Goals from Chris Taylor (2) and Scott Harman sealed the points for Highbridge, who climb to fourth in Division Two West – and Pitt was pleased to see fringe first team players performing well in big games.

He said: “We are getting stronger and stronger each week and our squad is growing with more strength in depth - and this showed when on paper this maybe was not our strongest line-up we are going to field this year, but every player stood up and was counted for to put in such a performance which is so pleasing for me.

“Worle are a very hard side to beat at home and to come here and get three points is a great achievement and a great follow up on last week’s result.

“I am so confident we are going to have a successful year and look forward to playing the likes of Taunton United and Churchill, who have had great starts to the campaign. “We now have five wins from seven, which I am more than happy with and if we keep building on these back to back wins, we will be up there without doubt.

“We now have back to back cup games, which is not ideal after such good results in the league, but we just have to go to Odd Down and test ourselves against one of the best in the county league and if we show the same heart and shape, I am sure we will give them a few frights and not make it easy for them.”

Town went into the game against a good Worle side high on spirits after the away win at Kewstoke the previous week - but with key players missing in Matt Scott, Stuart Green, Sam Redstone, Simon Fouracres, Kane Powell and Stuart Walford, Town knew they had their hands full.

In came Ryan Elliott, Adam Lock, Ben King and new signing Tom Marshfield.

The game started off slowly on a very tacky and sticky pitch, with Town players struggling to keep their footing in the middle of the park.

Worle had the majority of possession for the first 25 minutes, only troubling Town’s returning keeper Steve Bailey once, who made a fantastic save down to his left after good build up play.

Town looked a threat on the break with the pace of Chris Taylor up front and returning from suspension, Scott Harman was also causing problems.

It was Taylor who raced onto a ball over the top to round the keeper in the box before being hauled down for a penalty - and although there were complaints the foul was committed just outside the box, the Worle keeper could maybe count himself lucky he only saw yellow.

Taylor stepped up and put the penalty away to give Town the lead against the run of play, but with Russell McCaul and Tom Marshfield in control at the back, Worle never looked like penetrating Bailey’s goal.

Just before half-time, Harman put Taylor through and he again rounded the keeper to put the ball into the back of the net and give Town a 2-0 advantage at half-time.

The second-half started and Town took immediate control with Jack Hirons and Ryan Elliott winning the midfield battle.

After great work on the right by Harman, he crossed for Taylor who almost scored his hat-trick. but his powerful header came back off the post.

Midway through the half, Taylor found room out wide to skin his man, cut inside and lay a perfect ball across goal for Harman to convert for a goal his performance deserved.

Town did concede a late consolation goal, but it had little bearing on the result.

Highbridge take on Odd Down in the County Cup this weekend.

Team: S Bailey (c), King, Hampson, McCaul, Marshfield, Hirons, Elliott, Harman, Lock, Cattell & Taylor Subs Green