FOLLOWING THE SALTMEN

Droitwich Spa 3-0 Hallen AFC

HellenicLeague Premier Division. 30 August 2025

This afternoon’s game saw Spa return to the top of the Hellenic League Premier division with a win over our guests from the Bristol suburbs. The 3-0 scoreline suggests the win was comfortable. Guess what! It wasn’t!

The game started well for the Saltmen. A well worked move saw the ball played into the Hallen box. Two strikes were blocked but the ball eventually reached Josh Hurdman whose improvised overhead kick found the back of the visitors’ net. Droitwich had the lead with barely a minute on the clock. From a Spa perspective things went downhill for the next 85 minutes. Spa had plenty of possession but a combination of well organised defending, some wayward passing and just plain bad luck prevented the home side making further inroads. As the half wore on, Hallen grew into the game and, had it not been for some smart reactions from Dom Rogerson in the Droitwich goal, it would have been no surprise if Hallen had gone into the halftime break on equal terms or – even better.

Surely, some well chosen advice from manager Andy Crowther would prompt a positive response from the Saltmen. Unusually, this did not happen. Instead, Hallen continued to manage the game well and had long spells of possession. Again, Droitwich were glad of some telling interventions from Rogerson who impressively managed to repel the visitors on 4 or 5 occasions.

It is hard to imagine how Hallen can be in the league position they currently occupy. They look very compact and organised at the back, have a strong ball winning midfield and probably deserved better fortune in front of goal. It would not surprise us here at FTS if Hallen see a steady rise through the table as the season continues.

Somewhat against the run of play the 85th minute saw the ball reach Reiss Taylor-Randle. The Spa number 10 then drove to the byline before clipping an inviting cross into the path of recently introduced skipper James Lemon, who tucked the ball away neatly despite being challenged by two Hallen defenders.

To complete Hallen sense of injustice, the closing moments of the game saw Joe Hurdman, on for brother Josh, sprung the offside trap and head for goal. Joe had an opportunity to shoot but, instead, he unselfishly squared the ball to Nathan Binner who finished with a plum. (This pun is five days too late – Ed).

The final score was 3-0 in the Saltmen’s favour which undoubtedly seemed hard on Hallen. There can be little doubt that the visitors will travel back down the M5 feeling very hard done by.

Today’s FTS Man of the Match award goes to Dom Rogerson, who kept Spa in the game with a string of vital saves. On another day it is quite conceivable to think we would have been looking at another heavy home defeat.

The long awaited rain arrived this week. With more forecast for the coming days it would be good to think the pitch at Kingys will continue to recover and improve.

The next few weeks sees some respite for the lads. After an opening month with at least 2 games per week, we now return to just Saturday games

Droitwich return to the road next Saturday as they travel down to Hallen’s near neighbours Cribbs.

See you there

Cheers

FTS