CHICKERELL UNITED 1

WITCHAMPTON UNITED 5

CHICKERELL United failed to make the most of their opportunities as they fell to a 5-1 defeat at home to Witchampton United.

The Chickens created numerous opportunities but failed to capitalise on the mistakes of the opposition, scoring a consolation goal from the penalty spot through James Hansford.

Witchampton, however, punished the hosts by hitting five past them, something which manager Steve Coward says needs to be rectified.

He said: “We had chances to score but made four or five mistakes which they capitalised on, whereas they made mistakes and we couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net.

“We played some good stuff and did well but just couldn’t finish our chances.

“They have some good, experienced players and they punished us. You can afford to make mistakes against the top sides because they’ll crucify you.

“We’ve got to stop making mistakes. So many times this year stupid mistakes have cost us and if the team want to go ahead and do well next season they need to be focusing for 90 minutes and not 70.”

With little to play for in their remaining league games, Coward is looking to hand opportunities to the club’s young talent, and insists the future is bright for the club after his side’s defeat.

He said: “Witchampton weren’t any better than us. Their team have been playing together for years and a few of them will be coming to the end of their careers.

“They don’t have a reserve or youth set-up, whereas Chickerell Football Club still have an identity, we have 27 youth teams, three adult teams so we’ll always be doing as well as we can with the facilities we have.

“We’ve not been great this year but you’ve got to look to the future to see that what Chickerell can do moving forward, because everything is in place at the club.

“We gave a couple of lads from the third team an opportunity to get 45 minutes under their belt so we can see what they’re like and they both did really well.

“I thought if you’re going to see how good they are, then play them against top of the league and have a look.

“We’ve got three games left. We know we’re not going to win anything, so it’s an ideal opportunity to look to next year and let the new manager see what he thinks of some of the players here.”

Chickens: Bickerstaff, James, Rodgers, Welsh, Sanderman, Harvey, Etherington, Ryan, Hansford, White, Hillier. Subs: Bill, Gregory, Doyle