Hartpury 1 Portishead Town 3

By Hugo Richards / 15th October

Posset came into this game off the back of a convincing 2-0 win on Saturday and two places below a strong Hartpury Side. Last time these two met was back in The Isuzu FA Trophy. This game proved difficult for the travelling Portishead side as they were defeated 4-2 and eliminated from the competition.

Portishead started the game very positively with Jay Murray coming close to the opener 10 minutes in via a good ball from Mitchell Osmond. Despite posset starting well Hartpury showed a real bit of quality to steal the opening goal after a squared ball from Manning was slotted in by Coates to make it 1-0 to the home side. Portishead responded perfectly and equalised after another great delivery by Osmond was deflected into the path of Ethan Feltham who clambered the ball in on the goal line to make it 1-1. Just a couple of minutes later Portishead took advantage of another set piece. This time it was captain Kyle Egan who delivered a searching ball to the back post which landed at the feet of Sean Keet who played it across goal to Feltham who smashed the ball in, to grab his second of the game. That concluded the first half after a spirited posset 2-1 performance.

Shortly after the second half kicked off Portishead would find the third. Jayden Nielsen started the attack by playing a brilliant ball over the Hartpury defence to Egan who’s first shot was blocked and his follow up attempt was finished off by Jay Murray to add to posset’s lead. Just after the hour mark Manning tried to dance his way into the box after beating his man but several white shirts swarmed him to deflect the shot over. Soon after this chance Hartpury almost gifted Portishead a goal after Jay Murray intercepted a terrible pass into midfield and set Feltham through but his shot just missed bottom left of the goal. The second half remained relatively quiet with the Portishead backline dominating. A half chance fell to Hartpury winger, who had been quiet all game courtesy of Jamie Adams, but his shot was fired wide at the near post. Portishead remained solid and the game finished 3-1.

It was a great performance from posset who bullied Hartpury and showed leagues of improvement from their last encounter with them. Football returns to Bristol Road this Saturday with posset facing, an out of form, Willand Rovers side. This game is massive, with Portishead being just one point off a play off place.