WESTFIELDS CRUISE TO LEAGUE VICTORY

Today I decided to travel west to the old cathedral city of Hereford. The main reason being that I thought the weather might be a bit better in that direction. I think I was right as the cloud was a lighter shade of grey than in Worcester!

Initially I had decided to take in the Herefordshire Premier League game at Hinton, who play in the Broomy Hill area of the city. I arrived at the ground OK, at 2:30 but it was eerily quiet. Hmm, another postponement! So I decided to leg it up the road to see Westfields game against Heath Hayes. I made it with 10 minutes to spare. I like visiting there, it's a friendly club and they always try to play good football.

Westfields, who finished 2nd in the Midland Football Alliance (Step 5) last season, have not been so consistent this time round (especially in the first half of the season) but are still doing well in 5th place. Their opponents on the other hand from Cannock, find themselves next to bottom of the table. 

Heath Hayes came out in their away strip of yellow & black and Westfields were in their familiar claret & blue. In the photo above, Westfields centre-forward, Aidan Thomas (who scored 2 goals) takes a tumble in front of the main stand. 

Westfields started very well (ably supported by a very generous visiting defence) and were in a 2-0 lead within just 9 minutes. Heath Hayes were really struggling to get out of their own half and their goalkeeper was certainly getting plenty of practice. After 28 minutes though Westfields scored again and I was thinking it might end up about 0-8. Above, the Westfields players celebrate their 3rd goal while the goalkeeper awaits to be read the last rites. 

Somehow Heath Hayes hung on till half-time with no more damage inflicted.

However, after the interval, Heath Hayes were a different team, they were more tenacious in midfield and had tightened up at the back, so it was certainly more of a contest!  

They did not carry much of a goal threat but ably led by their captain, David Waple they did carry the fight to the Hereford high-flyers. Westfields though still looked the more threatening team and should have scored 2 more goals before the end.

Considering there was not much at stake in this game, there was a good crowd of 90+. Westfields now play Boldmere St Michaels in a 2 legged League Cup semi-final and later play Ledbury Town in the Herefordshire County Cup final, so they can still have a very successful season.