Weston super Mare v Taunton Town

The Seagulls walked away from an entertaining clash with Taunton Town holding aloft the Somerset Premier Cup 2019.

Hendy went close in the opening minutes, latching onto a pass but his shot was smothered by the ever-alert Lloyd Irish. Striker Ben Whitehead had a shot deflected wide by Jamie Price for a corner in the opening ten minutes too.

Goalkeeper Niall Maher was quick to react as prolific striker Andrew Neal brought down a Dan Sullivan cross and on the half-turn, his shot was pushed away by Maher. Sullivan blasted over a minute later from the edge of the box when Ed Palmer’s free-kick into the box was cleared as far as the forward.

Scott Laird shot wide of the target when coming out from the back, and Hendy went close again as he raced onto a Price header back towards Irish, rounding the former Seagulls stopper but from a tight angle, his backheel hit the base of the post and Price scrambled away.

Whitehead’s glancing header from Jake Mawford’s cross went over the bar, and Irish got down well to push a Howe attempt from an angle away from goal.

Nick McCootie drilled wide from the edge of the box when Isaac Pearce’s shot was deflected out to the striker, and Sullivan’s shot from a Mitchell throw-in wasn’t close to troubling Maher.

Captain Greg Tindle was in the right place to block a powerful Neal effort, and Irish held on to a Whitehead shot from inside the box.

 

Weston took the lead when Hendy was fed the ball by Laird on the edge of the box, and his curling effort was deflected in past Irish by striker Howe, who wheeled away to celebrate in front of the Seagull fans.

Whitehead dragged an effort from an angle wide of the post, while Sullivan, Neal and Josh Grant all had shots go wide or over the target before the interval.

After the half-time break, Ed Palmer had a header from a Shane White set-piece drift just wide, before the centre-back curled a free-kick over the bar. Down the other end, Pearce cut inside onto his right and fired over from the edge of the area.

Sullivan drilled a Wright layoff just wide of the target for the Peacocks, and Howe’s shot was deflected out for a corner as Weston looked for a second. Mawford almost came close when his swerving volley was beautifully struck but curled just wide of the target.

A shot from Sullivan was straight into the gloves of Maher as he had time to watch the ball drift comfortably into his chest.

Weston got their crucial second when a long clearance was held up by Howe. Shuffling the ball into a danger zone while being dragged to the floor, Howe’s movement left the gap for Hendy to go on a lung-busting run to get on the end of the loose ball 25 yards out. Gliding past a couple of challenges, the midfielder slotted into the bottom corner from 18 yards with five minutes remaining.

Taunton had a late lifeline when Neal was fouled inside the area, and the striker got up himself to fire the penalty into the roof of the net, however, it wasn’t enough to stop Weston from retaining the cup.