Umney hits hat-trick for Potton

The UCL Division One clash was played in fairly good spirit although there were a couple of incidents that the referee had to deal with.

At the start Woodford pressed and first Aaron King saw his shot go wide of the post and then Craig Lewis went full length to push his shot away for a corner.

Potton replied when Kenny Smith tried a shot from 25 yards that went over the bar and then Gary Ansell-Carter shot wide. Potton were playing some good football but lacked penetration.

Woodford’s Ryan Markham had an effort that went high over the bar and at the other end Gary Ansell-Carter had an effort that was blocked at the expense of a corner. King then forced Lewis into two fine saves, the first from open play and the next from a free-kick.

Play became scrappy with both sides giving the ball away. Net Miller had a shot that was going into the top corner of the goal and Lewis pushed over the bar for a corner. Woodford played a through ball to James Weale who saw his shot saved by the feet of Lewis.

Potton finished the half strongly with Gary Ansell-Carter centring for Umney to head wide and then from a centre from Mark Ansell-Carter was headed on by Smith and Umney forced a very good save from close range by keeper Joe Haynes. In the final minute Gary Ansell-Carter’s shot was saved by Haynes.

At the start of the second half Woodford attacked with determination and Potton started slowly. Weale saw his shot saved by Lewis, King shot wide of the goal and then Weale shot across the goal but no-one was there to add the finishing touch.

In the 51st minute Potton’s defence allowed King to take the ball through and although his effort was parried by Lewis Weale was following up and headed into the unguarded net to give Woodford the lead.

This seemed to stir Potton into action and a good cross from Gary Ansell-Carter was finished with a weak shot from Umney. However in the 55t hminute Calum Forster put a ball through that eluded the Woodford defence for Chris Reeves to run onto and shoot past the keeper.

Gary Ansell-Carter fought for a ball going forward and played it to brother Mark whose centre was headed home by Umney to give Potton the lead in the 57th minute.

Too many fouls were being conceded by Potton and from one a through ball to Paul Beever saw his effort go over the bar.

In the 60th minute King fouled Lewis when challenging for the ball and eventually the referee showed King a yellow card. However both sets of players tried to get involved and Luke Harradine and a Woodford player were lucky to only be shown a yellow card when they both raised their hands and ushed each other.

In the 63rd minute Chris Reeves found Umney who scored with a good shot. Mark Ansell-Carter had a good run on goal but fired over the bar.

Brother Gary played the ball through to Umney but his effort went over the bar.

In the 74th minute Potton further increased their lead when Smith played the ball through to Umney who calmly placed his shot past Haynes to complete a 19 minute hat-trick.

It was all Potton now and Forster found Smith whose lobbed shot was well saved by Haynes. Joe Aris found Mark Ansell-Carter but his effort was wide of the goal.

Nat Liburd had an effort that went wide of Lewis goal. In the final minute John Bailey had a weak shot at goal and as Arden Parkinson was running back he slapped Bailey across the face and was shown a red card by the referee. With that the referee blew the final whistle.

Potton United: Craig Lewis, Calum Forster, Sam Kelly, Shaun Faulkner, Luke Harradine, Chris Reeves (John Bailey), Mark Ansell-Carter, Joe Aris, Gary Ansell-Carter, Kenny Smith (Lee Swain), Marc Umney (Charlie Cotton)

A convincing win by Potton who played some good football to gain three more points — although it took an early second half goal from Woodford to wake them up.

Potton visit Bugbrooke on Saturday.