Vs. Wittersham (A)
Starting XI	Substitutes:
Jamie Pooley
Owen Davies
Gary Williams
Gary Wenham	(75 Simon Hockley)
Paul Ford
Dave Mills	(75 Steve Spicer)
Bryan Leggett
Andy Mills (c)
Pete Cooper
Gary Walsh
Adam Johnson	(68 Dom Fowler)
Referee: J McCormack
HT Score: 2-0
FT Score: 4-2

After 3 consecutive defeats, Battle Baptists scored twice in each half to beat their hosts comfortably in this Division 4 encounter.

On a well-manicured pitch, Wittersham began confidently, passing the ball crisply and preventing the churchmen from settling into any form. The home team kept possession well in defence and midfield, but in attack they were unable to break through Battle’s well-organised defensive cordon.

A left-wing Paul Ford throw-in found the feet of Gary Walsh on 15 minutes and the striker clinically guided the ball back into the path of Pete Cooper whose 20-yard right footed strike curled beautifully into the opposite top corner to open the scoring.

Within ten minutes, the Baptists doubled the lead. Quick passing down the right wing involving Dave Mills and Adam Johnson created space for Brian Leggett who split the home defence and coolly finished past the helpless keeper.

Having already suffered 7 defeats so far in their Division 3 campaign, Wittersham were visibly demoralised and looked sure to concede further goals as Walsh and Johnson had good efforts saved before the half-time whistle brought some relief.

At the other end Wittersham found stand-in keeper Jamie Pooley in great form for the Baptists. A fizzing long-range shot forced a full-length diving save that the Battle keeper skilfully held on to after it bobbled free.

In the second period , a fiery Wittersham came out expecting to ignite their performance but hopes were snuffed out when Walsh was given time to thread a through ball to striking partner Johnson who calmly shot under the keeper’s body from 22 yards, warming the hearts of the faithful travelling fans. Moments later Johnson looked sure to score his brace, his close-range shot was bravely saved.

By now, some frustrated Wittersham players had turned their anguish on the referee who cautioned 2 players for reckless tackles persistent arguing.

With the game seemingly in the bag, Battle made opportunist substitutions in all departments, bringing on Simon Hockley for Gary Wenham, Dom Fowler for the hard-working Adam Johnson, and debutant Steve Spicer for Dave Mills. Capitalising on the disruption, Wittersham clawed a goal back when substitute Matt Goldsmith jumped on a defensive mix up to score into an open goal.

Crunching tackles from central stalwart Gary Williams prevented further incursions into the Baptist’s 18 yard area before the 3 goal cushion was restored when Brian Leggett scored his second of the afternoon, sprinting round the back of the defence at an Owen Davies free kick and volleying into the corner of the net from a fine angle.

Mike Taylor’s firm header from 12 yards served as mean consolation for Wittersham as the Baptists’ comfortably saw off the final moments to collect three well-earned points.

This was a spirited display by the battle outfit who were not intimidated by some horrible tackles and bad-natured comments. Next week they take on lower Division Cinque Ports in the second round of the Hastings Junior Challenge Cup – KO 1:30pm at Bexhill Road.