FOLLOWING THE SALTMEN

Hellenic League Premier Division

09/08/2025

Mundy Playing Fields

Thornbury looks like a lovely town. Only half an hour or so from Bristol, there is definitely something of the picture postcard about its town centre.

On arrival at the ground we were greeted by two of the Thornbury players who asked how our journey had been. That is a first for me.

We decided to visit a hostelry to sample the local ‘culture’ and headed through the picnickers in the park and into town. At £6+ for a pint we only had the one and then headed back to the ground.

Mundy Playing Fields has been Thornbury Town’s home since the 1940s and it’s obvious why they stay. Located on the edge of a public park it is a pretty ground with lots of cover, seated and standing. One section of raised terracing looks like a very recent addition to the facilities. There is also a very nice clubhouse with an open, airy bar. And the drinks were cheaper than the pub in town. Sadly, as a designated driver, FTS could not take full advantage of this particular facility. We will try harder next time – in the interests of journalistic accuracy, of course!

While the surroundings are very nice, the pitch was a little bit less friendly. The hot, dry summer has not been a friend to many groundsmen this year and Thornbury is no exception. The playing surface looked hard and there were a lot of bumps making ball control a bit of a lottery. This is not in any way a criticism of the club, just the inevitable result of the good weather we have been enjoying.

The difficulty of the surface quickly became clear as the game kicked off. Both sides struggled to make meaningful visits into the final third of the field and only a limited number of half chances were created. That was until Reiss Taylor-Randle hit a long 19th minute cross which Josh Hurdman met perfectly and his header gave Clark in the home goal no chance. Spa had a 1-0 lead.

Opportunities came and went for Taylor-Randle and Alex Dugmore but on 38 minutes Town were awarded a penalty which Chalmers converted to level the scores at 1-1.

Duggers was unable to pick up the pieces after a fine James Lemon effort was parried by Clark on 42 mins and we reached halftime level.

Underfoot conditions continued to hamper the players in the second half. On 52 minutes Dugmore was given a good opportunity to enter the scoring after great work by Joe Clayton. Sadly Duggers effort was deflected to safety.

But as we’ve seen many times in the last 12 months, it’s difficult to stop the Spa goal machine aka Alex Dugmore and just before the hour mark, he restored the Saltmen’s lead, losing his markers and rising to head home a pinpoint Taylor-Randle corner with a trademarked powerful header.

This may not have been a game for the purists but there was plenty of incident to keep the crowd of 167 interested. With 25 minutes still to play, Spa keeper Dom Rogerson had to leave the action due to what I would guess has been an injury that has been troubling him for some time. With no replacement keeper on the bench, Rohan Levy drew the short straw and took the Mackem stopper’s place between the sticks. The young centre back wouldn’t have to wait very long to be involved in the action. Unfortunately, this would involve picking the ball out of his newly acquired net as a decent strike from the home side gave Rohan no chance. Quite why goalscorer Marcus Wormhole found it necessary to charge at Rowan trying to rip the retrieved ball from him like a spoiled baby will perhaps remain one of life’s eternal mysteries: particularly as there was still at least twenty minutes still to play.

What comes around, goes around as they say (whoever ‘they’ are), and Karma was restored to the world on 80 minutes when Alex Dugmore was adjudged to have been tripped in the Town box and the referee pointed to the spot. From our vantage point, FTS did think the award looked a bit harsh but the referee is always right and we must accept his decision with our usual good grace.

Anyway, Ben Tilbury kept his cool and struck the ball home to give the Saltmen the lead for the third time on the day.

Droitwich survived a last minute scare to hold on and claim the win. Not a vintage Spa performance by any means but an away win when playing some way below potential will encourage the supporters who again travelled in significant numbers to bolster the crowd of 167. Something else which will encourage the faithful was the sight of Perry Moss at the game. This rover’s return will be as popular in Droitwich as it is in Weatherfield!

Despite saying the game was not a classic, there were still some impressive performances from the men in their new gold (not yellow) away kit. Lewis Phillips was faultless but the fact that he missed the game due to injury left me with no choice but to give the highly prized FTS man of the match award to somebody else. On this occasion, in recognition of the latest in a string of dominant performances the award goes to Corey Rudd. Both combative and creative, the Spa midfielder is currently playing as well as I’ve seen him play. Special mention must also go to Ben Tilbury who continues to impress at centre back and to Rohan Levy who had the stones to put the gloves on and step out of the comfort zone.

Thanks must go to Thornbury who were gracious hosts at their very nice ground. Best of luck for the season ahead.

Next up, three home games in a row. First, Fairford Town visit Kingys on Tuesday, 12th August. Kickoff at 7.45pm.

See you there.

Cheers

FTS

PS: Found out who ‘they’ are :-