Southern League Premier: Wimborne Town 3-0 Taunton Town

After producing arguably their strongest performance of the season four days earlier when ending Walton & Hersham’s eight month unbeaten home record, the Peacocks continued their Jekyll and Hyde form with probably their worst display as they slumped to a dismal defeat in Dorset.

The loss of two players to injury inside the opening quarter hour didn’t help their cause but instead of galvanizing Taunton to dig deep and discover the team spirit from midweek, the visitors surrendered to a Magpies side which deservedly claimed their first victory in four games.

The Peacocks’ pack was again shuffled from the Walton game, with Jake Hodgson, Eddie Jones and Jay Malshanskyj all starting, and it seemed business as usual in the opening minutes as Taunton made a decent enough start, Tom Smith knocking down a free kick for Ollie Woodhouse to fire over the bar. However, play was soon halted after Woodhouse seemed to land awkwardly and hobbled off to be replaced by Morgan Lewis after just seven minutes.

Taunton escaped after ten minutes when Josh Carmichael’s corner from the left evaded everyone to hit the near post before a free kick from Matt Neale was cleared as far as Jez Bedford, who saw his shot from the right side safely pouched by Peacocks’ keeper Josh Gould.

The game was again stopped following a nasty injury to Josh Owers who received an accidental full boot in the face, the teams leaving the pitch for several minutes as treatment continued on the Taunton player who was taken to hospital which revealed a fractured jaw and a small brain bleed. 

The club has since confirmed that Josh suffered a fractured jaw and a small bleed on the brain and will remain in hospital until Monday.

A spokesman for the club said: "Our thoughts are with Josh and we wish him a full and speedy recovery."

Harris Feltham took over from Owers for the visitors, but it was Wimborne who were the quickest to reacclimatize, Bedford seizing a loose ball to see his low cross just miss a touch from Matt Burrows while Carmichael headed wide from Neale’s corner.

The Peacocks then produced their most menacing minute of the game when a long throw from Lewis led to a bout of pinball in the area, with a number of attempts from Smith, Hodgson and Malshanskyj all being blocked by bodies until the ball was eventually scrambled clear.

Generally speaking though Taunton were making things difficult for themselves as they were too sloppy in possession and too slow to react, meaning the Magpies were first to virtually every second ball, and with the momentum in their favour the hosts went on to grab the lead after 33 minutes. Carmichael sprayed a pass down the left for Burrows to run onto and although occupying a tight angle he slotted home inside Gould.

Malshanskyj saw an effort held by Wimborne keeper Alex Rutter as the half concluded, leaving Taunton requiring a gear change if they hoped to turn the game around. However it was a case of gear box failure after the break.

Harry Morgan had acres of space to find Bedford who glided inside to fire over the bar and with too many passes continuing to go astray a prime example after 57 minutes led to a second goal for the home side when Hodgson’s back header fell woefully short for Burrows to intercept and tuck past the exposed Gould.

Jayden Nielsen’s blocked shot from Smith’s cross generated appeals for handball but nothing doing and Wimborne promptly added a third to kill the game after 66 minutes, Carmichael floating a ball in from the left to the unmarked Will Fletcher who had ample time to pick out the corner with no defender near.

The Peacocks responded by introducing their remaining three substitutes and soon won two corners delivered by Nielsen, the second of which was punched clear by Rutter for Brain to fire narrowly over.

Brain then saw a free kick held by Rutter as Town huffed and puffed in vain search of getting a goal back, but they were lucky to keep the margin to three when a cross from the right found the head of 6ft 9” striker Fareed Saidu Salifa whose header was kept out on the line by Opi Edwards.

Into six minutes of added time and Brain did see another shot from the edge of the box held by Rutter but by now the final whistle couldn’t come quick enough.