Division 1 champions Whitecroft & Barton Sports saw off their closest rivals Shanklin at Sandy Lane on Saturday.
Both sides were forced to make goalkeeping changes. Regular W&B keeper Andy Payne was unavailable because of a family bereavement and his place was taken by manager Gareth True; Shanklin stalwart and Reserves captain Iain Seabrook took the Number 1 jersey for the visitors.
W&B opened the scoring after just 10 minutes when a Nathan Martin shot bounced off the top of the crossbar, and the rebound was headed in by Alex Wright (1-0). Keelan Sainsbury then latched on to a Sam Yelland cross to score a 2nd for the home side in the 17th minute (2-0).
HT: W&B 2-0 Shanklin
Shanklin were unable to recover from conceding 2 early 1st half goals. In the 55th minute, Shanklin No7 Jordie Cook saw his shot cannon off the top right corner of the crossbar. In the 64th minute, Jason Smythers had a goal disallowed for offside. However, the home side held out for a relatively comfortable victory.
FT: W&B 2-0 Shanklin
W&B: True, K Sainsbury, Shaw, Bast, Ovnik (c), A Sainsbury, Yelland, Rayner, Appell, Wright, Martin Subs: East, Stanton, Kalaker
Shanklin: Seabrook, Wilson, Smythers, Watterson, Wright, Gregory, Cook, Young, Vyse, Drew, Carter-Knight Subs: Field, Sanderson, Trowbridge
After the game, W&B manager Gareth True said:
“It’s been a difficult week with a host of players unavailable. The team was ever changing even on the morning of the game, so to get the 3 points was a great show of character by the boys. It wasn’t a great game for the football purist, but I thought we got what we deserved.”
Shanklin manager Paul Haward said:
“We paid the price for a slow start today; we didn’t start playing our football until we found ourselves 2-0 down. I thought we created more in the 2nd half, but we couldn’t quite find that breakthrough. Fair play to W&B, they defended well throughout the game and probably deserved the 3 points over the 90 minutes. We have to bounce back for next week’s Hampshire cup quarter final which is another big game for the club”
W&B’s 34th consecutive league victory leaves them in 1st place in Division 1 with a flawless 45 points from 15 games, 9 points ahead of Shanklin and on course to equal West Wight’s record of 7 consecutive Division 1 victories.
In other Division 1 games …
Vectis beat Division 1 newcomers Niton 11-0 at Cowes Enterprise College. Jamie Barratt (4), Harrison Jenkins (2), Jake Symes (2), Aaron Shepherd, Ryan Winter and Kieran Sibbick were on target for Vectis.
Binstead beat Cowes Sports 1-2 with goals from James Tilbury and Jamie Dyer. Gareth Bricknell replied with a penalty for the Yachtsmen.
Brading Town won 0-3 at Sandown through a 2nd half hat-trick through Dan Vale.
Northwood St Johns won 1-2 away at West Wight with goals from Arthur Balchin and Callum Bowen-Clarke.
In Division 2 …
Pan Community have gone 6 points clear at the top of the table by beating East Cowes Sports 1-4 at the GKN Sports Ground. The scorers for Pan were: Ross Lacey, Ash Gulliver, Robbie Shepherd and Jack Davies.
In the Hampshire Vase …
Wootton ended their cup run at the quarter-final stage, losing 4-1 to St Francis in a game they dedicated to former player Richard Chase.
Wootton manager Dan Partridge said:
“First and foremost, I’m beyond proud of how this team battled yesterday and throughout the competition, taking this club further than I could ever have imagined. The score line in no way represents how well we played yesterday. We dedicated the game to our former player, Rich Chase, and I hope we did you proud mate.”
“To all the lads who have represented me during this run, I want to say thank you to you all for the way you’ve gone about getting the job done. The way you’ve played has been a joy to watch. We’ve still got a lot to play for and I know we’ll be bang at it, and ready to go again.”
In the Isle of Wight Gold Cup …
Oakfield overcame Ryde rivals Saints 3-4 at Smallbrook. The Oakers will join West Wight, Binstead and Brading in the quarter finals where they will meet champions W&B and the 3 Wessex League sides: Newport, Cowes Sports and East Cowes Vics.
Isle of Wight results for Saturday 29th January 2022
Hampshire FA Saturday Vase Quarter- Final
St Francis Men 4-1 AFC Wootton
Isle of Wight Senior Cup 2nd Round
Ryde Saints 3-4 Oakfield
The Ken Morris Junior ‘A’ Cup 2nd Round
Brading Town Reserves P-P Adgestone
The Unison IOW Junior B Cup 1st Round
Pan Community Reserves 2-6 Vectis Reserves
Yarmouth & Calbourne Reserves P-P AFC Wootton Reserves
Harwoods Renault IOW Saturday League Division 1:
Cowes Sports Reserves 1-2 Binstead & COB
Sandown & Lake 0-3 Brading Town
Vectis 11-0 Niton Community
West Wight 1-2 Northwood St Johns
Whitecroft & Barton Sports 2-0 Shanklin
Division 2:
Carisbrooke United 3-4 Ventnor
East Cowes Sports 1-4 Pan Community
East Cowes Vics Reserves 5-0 Yarmouth & Calbourne
High Park H-W Newport Reserves
Seaview 0-4 Osborne Coburg
Combination Division 1:
Bembridge 2-3 Sandown & Lake
Northwood St Johns 3-1 West Wight
Oakfield 0-1 Whitecroft & Barton Sports
Osborne Coburg 1-3 Binstead & COB
Shanklin 5-0 Ryde Saints
