Monumental! Thornbury Town 1-1 Droitwich Spa

Hellenic League Premier Division, 29 September 2026

Attendance: 130

Prior to kick off, few would have given the Droitwich side much of a chance. It was, after all a second place versus second bottom side match. The hosts have been enjoying an excellent start to the season accruing 22 points from their opening 10 games whereas Spa have been inconsistent but shown significant improvement over recent weeks.

However, on arrival at the Mundy Playing Fields home of Thornbury Town we learnt that along with injured Rohan Levy, Spa would also be without midfield lynchpin Nathan Binner and club skipper James Lemon. With manager Townsend’s options back to bare bones, it was necessary to shuffle what was left of the pack. Alex Dugmore was moved back to the centre of defence and in came recent signing Lee Chilton.

It came as something of a relief to see Spa start the game so lively. The neutral supporter would have been hard pressed to tell which team was at the top of the table and which was in the bottom two. In fact when the Thorns opened the scoring it was very much against the run of play. Dugmore was adjudged to have handled the ball in the penalty area and despite the linesman advising that the ball had ricocheted off the luckless Duggers’ head onto his arm, the referee stuck to his guns and awarded the penalty, which was very nearly saved by Spa keeper Dom Rogerson.

It is perhaps only to be expected that the irrepressible Dugmore found a quick reply, rising above the Thorns back four five minutes later, to convert a great cross from the right side and parity was restored. However, as things have been going this season, bad luck struck again. With a couple of minutes of the equaliser, Perry Moss saw a straight red card for a high challenge on the Thorns number 8. It was a foul – and it may just have warranted a red card. Nevertheless, the sight of a player writhing in mock agony, rolling one turn downhill and four more uphill, like this was a second division game in Argentina, leaves a sour taste in this writer’s mouth. Such deliberate (and in this case unnecessary) attempts to con the officials into sending an opponent off smack of the worst kind of gamesmanship. And it wasn’t even convincing!

I’ll leave it at that and concentrate on the rest of the game in which Spa belied their league position, weakened squad and ten man status. In what must be considered one of the most gutsy, balls to the wall performances in recent club history, the Saltmen stonewalled their hosts for the best part of an hour. The back four tackled, headed, intercepted and threw themselves in the way of everything Thornbury could throw at them. The depleted midfield competed for every ball, breaking up opposition play and linking up with front two, Chilton and Archie Thurston. The duo, at opposite ends of their football careers, ran themselves into the ground, holding the ball, closing opponents down and pushing them onto the back foot.

After what seemed an eternity, the final whistle arrived, and the Spa players were met with an ovation from the twenty or so travelling supporters.

I could make a strong case for awarding the coveted FTS Man of the Match award to any one of the players. After much thought……it goes to Alex Dugmore. A massive shift alongside fellow hero Sam Carey in the back four and bagging a trademark Dugmore’s goal just shades it.

Next up, Malmesbury at Kingys.

See you there.

Cheers

FTS

G