On Thursday night Nailsea played hosts to second in the table Bishops Lydeard who knew that 3 points would take them back to the top of the table. The visitors were also looking to extend their record of remaining undefeated since October of last year.
United started on a positive note and immediately took the game to Bishops Lydeard creating several half chances in the opening 15 minutes. This pressure was maintained with the opening goal coming from the head of James Taylor following a corner by Matt Long.
The visitors were simply not able to contain a rampant Nailsea side and 2 minutes later Jim Lee passed to Matt Vickers who found the back of the net to give Nailsea their second goal. The remainder of the half was a little more even although the Nailsea defence did not allow the visitors a clear chance on goal.
Any thoughts that Bishop Lydeard may have had of keeping their unbeaten run intact were snuffed out after 43 minutes when Matt Vickers stabbed the ball forward for Jim Lee to fire home the home teams third. Nailsea were not finished yet when from a fine Ben Cook cross Jim Lee headed powerfully towards goal only for the visitors keeper to save. I do not know what Addo and Spenny had to say at half time although more of the same would have been good enough.
United were even more impressive at the start of the second half with a Kevin Cosham shot flashing just wide and following a typical mazy run by the same player Matt Long shot just off target. There was now only one team in it with Nailsea cutting the visitors defence to ribbons and the occasional Bishop Lydeard attacks being cut out by the stalwart home defence.
The Nailsea management brought on Chris Gale and Rob Wilson for the last 20 minutes replacing Matt Vickers and Stuart Lee respectively. Chances then fell to Jim Lee and Chris Gale neither of which could convert. The last substitution was made with 15 minutes to go when Sam Long was replaced by Sam Olsen. Immediately good work by Russ Driver saw him cross for Jim Lee to shoot only for the ball to hit a defender before coming back to Chris Gale who shot into the roof of the net to give United a well deserved win by 4 clear goals.
This was without doubt the team performance of the season with every player giving 100%. As the crowd drifted away after the end of the game I have not heard so many positive comments by the home supporters about the skill, competitive nature and fitness of United in many a season. Well done lads it was a pleasure to watch.
