Winterbourne United 5, Pewsey Vale 0 (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Winterbourne United 5, Pewsey Vale 0

2:33pm Monday 12th December 2005 in Football

PEWSEY Vale manager Dave Turner said he had words' with his side after their humiliating 5-0 defeat at top-of-the-table Winterbourne United on Saturday.

The manager, whose side consisted of four 16-year-olds on the pitch and a further five on the bench, said he would put the game down to a learning curve, but only if they bounce back against Cirencester United at home on Saturday.

Turner said: "They were better than us, there's no doubt about that, but we did not put in a decent performance and they probably won't have an easier win all season.

"We have had words in the dressing room, and that will stay between us, but it's all sorted. They know what is expected."

Winterbourne United stretched their unbeaten run to 13 games with this convincing win, showing promotion form.

Pewsey went behind after nine minutes when the ball was won out on the left side for Mark Allen to score at close range.

Pewsey went further behind on 22 minutes when a shot by Scot Cameron was deflected for a corner.

From the corner Pewsey midfielder Darren Tapper headed out as far as Liam Barnett, who crashed home a volley from 30 yards to make it 2-0.

Pewsey tried to get back into the game but was shortly to lose their star striker Craig Wall through a groin injury, bringing on Ricky Franklin, signed from Devizes Town during the week.

Tapper then set up Kevin Montague on 33 minutes but his snap shot went just over.

Montague was again unlucky on 40 minutes as he created space but saw his shot cannon off the post to safety.

Pewsey went further behind in the second-half as substitute Neil Stovoid made it 3-0 with a far post header from an accurate Mark Nash cross.

On the hour Darren Andrews added a fourth goal, after robbing the Vale keeper to tap home, and the rout was completed when Stovoid took advantage of slack defensive marking to cut inside to fire in his second goal of the game.

Pewsey continued to look for that consolation goal but were denied by strong defending by the home side.

Manager Turner said he was looking for a reaction from his players against Cirencester United, accepting no excuses for having a young side.

He said: "We had five 16-year-olds playing most of the match. That's not an excuse as they have proved they can compete at this level, but sometimes with young players you lose that consistency.

"They struggled a bit and were perhaps intimidated by a very physical Winterbourne side.

"There's a lot of players who are having to learn and grow up quickly but they have been giving a good account of themselves.

"If we had money we would not be playing 16-year-olds, but this is the route the club has wanted to go down and I am glad they have.

"There's some good youngsters here who will go on to play at a higher level."