Two sloppy goals contribute to Whitnash defeat

A Mike Ellis goal inside the first five minutes put Town on their way to victory at home to Jaguar and despite the visitors hitting back to equalise, further goals from Craig Watkin, Lee Scott and Alex Unitt completed a comfortable success.

However, short of seven key players for the 6pm kick-off at Coventry-based Christ The King, Town were made to pay for conceding two goals in a five-minute spell just after the restart.

Whitnash had already bounced back from conceding a second-minute goal, with Watkin equalising from the spot in the 20th minute.

But, despite the visitors bossing the period up to half-time, they were unable to make their dominance tell.

Christ The King made them pay with a two-goal blitz and although Ion Urdaniz pulled it back to 3-2 with his first goal for the senior team, Town were unable to stave off their second defeat of the season.

“We played well enough on the night to win the game,” said manager Barry Shearsby.

“But we just can’t keep clean sheets.

“We gave away two sloppy goals and when you concede three away from home, you need to score four to win and that isn’t going to happen.”

Shearsby also refused to blame the loss of Luke Cole and Ross Briscoe, who have joined Stockton and Coventry United respectively, for the club’s disappointing start – Town already trail leaders Coundon Court Old Boys by five points.

“They scored a lot of goals and we knew they’d be hard to replace,” he said.

“But we’ve still got enough in the team to be winning these games.”

Shearsby welcomes back Josh Cole for tomorrow’s home clash with Ambleside Sports (2.15pm),

Kenilworth Wardens claimed a convincing 4-1 win over Coventry Copsewood on Tuesday evening.

Wardens started brightly with Rich Powell tapping in following good work from Danny Bartle. Bartle then went on to score a brace of well-taken goals with Tom Shanley netting late in the game after finishing off a move he started.

“It was an excellent all-round team performance,” said manager Andy Taylor.

Wardens’ reserve side got their Division Three campaign up and running with a 3-2 defeat at Jaguar Daimler Reserves.

An even game saw both sides create chances but it was the home side who struck first with a well-taken shot from outside the box.

Wardens drew level when Krys Zarycki finished off a well-worked move and they wasted a number of chances to take the lead before Dan Edgington stabbed the ball home from a corner.

However, they conceded twice in the final five minutes to suffer an avoidable defeat.