In an enjoyable friendly played to give both sides some match practice after the recent freeze Airbus matched their (slightly) more illustrious opponents and made them work all the way for their win.
It was The Wingmakers who made the brighter start, Marc Lloyd-Williams hitting a post after only 3' and then just sending a left foot dink over the angle following a little run down the middle. Carlo robbed the dodgy Sam Russell on the edge of the area but couldn't get the ball on target from a very narrow angle on 10'. They paid for it in the next minute as Wxm countered speedily down the right, a perfect cross headed in at the back post by Matty Wolfenden. It was the visitors who then asserted themselves with their (marginally) greater skill but out of the blue Matty Woodward skimmed a header wide from a free kick. They held on until six minutes from half time when Wolfenden skipped through the defence to send a clever clip over the returning Chris Doran for number two. Just on the break Jiws rounded Russell but somehow just couldn't steer it in as he was swiftly closed down.
The second half saw wholesale changes for The 'Bus and immediately Gary McConnell took the ball off the still dithering Russell but slipped the ball wide from the goal line with not much to aim at. Chris Doran pulled off a good save from Marc Williams as Wxm again took control. Incredibly, however, it was Airbus who provided the goal action. First a cross, more poor keeping & Niall Challinor headed in (64'), then Tom Rowlands marked his welcome return to The Airfield by bundling in the equaliser (70'). Unfortunately the winner came at the wrong end, James Owen, ironically (or annoyingly) just released by Chester City , heading in with 10 minutes to go.
It's good to be back.
