SDFL Division Five

Barton Athletic 1

Seb Bartram-Vowles’ double helped Kingsbridge and Kellaton to an unlikely victory over title challengers Barton Athletic.

Just seven days after Kellaton’s morale-sapping defeat at the hands of Paignton Villa, the home side rose from the ashes of that performance to dispatch a strong Barton side.

The Ks seized a two-goal lead early on and never looked back as their opponents huffed and puffed but failed to blow the Kings­bridge defence down.

Despite Kingsbridge coming in to the game with their confidence at an all-time low, they turned on the style in the early stages and looked every inch as good as their third-placed visitors.

Kingsbridge got their first of the game as Stephen Dixon’s jabbed pass in to Dom Farleigh sent him driving at the heart of Barton’s defence. Three defenders later and Farleigh was on the edge of the box; Bartram Vowles took the ball off his toes and then side-footed the ball past the away ‘keeper.

The early lead was no less than Kingsbridge deserved, with the midfield of Dixon, Matt Tucker and Chris and Alex Thomas grabbing hold of the ball and testing the mettle of their opposite numbers.

The Thomas brothers’ dominance of the aerial battle kept the home side on top and whenever Barton did break their resistance, they came up against a defensive pairing of Paul Dixon and Adam Phillips who weren’t in the mood to give away chances lightly.

Kingsbridge got their deserved second 20 minutes in to the game. Tucker surged down the right flank and passed the ball square to Farleigh. The forward’s nimble footwork was too much for Barton to handle as he was felled inside the box and the referee awarded the penalty.

Bartram-Vowles stepped up for the spot-kick and neatly tucked it in to the net to extend Kingsbridge’s lead.

With tempers fraying for the visibly upset visitors, the centre-back for Athletic was then sent off for an altercation with the referee half way through the first period.

As is so often the case in football, the sending off galvanised Barton and they started to become a tougher nut for Kingsbridge to crack. For the remainder of the half the Ks could only muster chances from set-pieces and Stephen Dixon saw his header saved by the Barton ‘keeper.

The first goal of the second half was always going to be a crucial one and Barton were the team to get it.

Adam Phillips got caught underneath a long ball forward and the striker got to the ball ahead of Kings­bridge goalkeeper James Warwick to lift the ball in to the back of the net.

The goal sent Barton in to overdrive in search of an equaliser and despite their man disadvantage they were starting to create chances.

Thankfully for Kings­bridge, ‘keeper Warwick was in fine form and beat away many of their efforts with ease. The most impressive save came from a long drive from distance, which War­wick leapt to his right to keep out with a fantastic one-handed save.

After surviving some Barton pressure, Kellaton sealed the points with the next goal of the game. Farleigh collected the ball 25 yards from goal and stabbed a toe-punt effort towards goal. The ball squirmed inside the post to seal a victory that Kingsbridge richly deserved.