Stratford Town retain status despite Poole defeat
STRATFORD Town retained their Evo-Stik Southern League Premier Division status despite a 1-0 defeat to leaders Poole Town at the DCS on Tuesday night.
Bideford’s 1-0 defeat at home to Merthyr Town was enough to see Stratford over the line and it added some cheer to an otherwise frustrating night against the champions-elect.
Carl Adams’ men started the game with plenty of purpose and Tyrone Fagan missed one of the home side’s best chances of the game after just two minutes.
Kieren Westwood whipped a superb cross into the box from the left on to the head of Fagan, but the big striker headed it across goal and the danger was cleared.
Poole took some time to settle, before carving out a gilt-edged chance of their own in the 11 minute.
Steve Devlin put Tony Lee into space and the striker beat Anthony Charles and fired an effort that was heading towards the bottom corner before Andy Kemp made a good save.
Kemp could do little to save Stratford eight minutes later though, when Luke Burbidge cut inside before unleashing a thumping drive from just outside of the area into the net after the Town defenders failed to close him down.
The goal did Poole the world of good and Town were left restricted to a long-range Jack Roberts effort on the half-hour, which Nick Hutchings snaffled at the second attempt.
The game then became very stop-start and there were few goal-bound efforts to speak of until the final 20 minutes, when the game sprang into life.
Defender Liam Francis, playing in a midfield role for much of the game, saw his header superbly saved by Hutchings to keep the score at 1-0.
And moments later it was Kemp’s turn to pull a save out of the top drawer to deny Luke Roberts.
Town fans’ hearts were in the mouths again with 13 minutes to go when Kemp sliced a clearance just outside of the area after the ball took a bobble.
The Poole forward took advantage and Kemp, in the knowledge that two Stratford defenders had tracked back to protect the goal, took the Poole player down and was rightly shown a yellow card rather than a red.
Poole then played out the remaining ten minutes relatively comfortably, in the knowledge that a win against Dunstable on Saturday will be enough for them to claim the Southern League Premier Division championship.
Stratford Town: Andy Kemp, Gary Moran (c), Kieren Westwood, Marcel Simpson (Dior Angus 86), Liam Francis, Anthony Charles (Richard Gregory 62), Jack Roberts (Aaron Moses-Garvey 78), Michael McGrath, Tyrone Fagan, Jamie Sheldon, Simeon Tulloch. Subs not used: Mark Magee, Aaron Stringfellow.
Poole Town: Nick Hutchings, Lewis Tallack, Will Spetch, Lewis Lindsay, Jamie Whisken, Carl Pettefer, Luke Burbidge (Jamie Gleeson 66), Steve Devlin, Tony Lee (Jack Dickson 59), Marvin Brooks, Luke Roberts. Subs not used: Tom Rees, Ashan Holgate, Richard Gillespie.
