Yatton 4 v 2 Imperial FC
AN ALEX Bird double helped Yatton progress to the second round of the Somerset County Division Two Knock-Out Cup with a 4-2 win over Imperial.
The front man opened and completed the hosts' scoring at Hangstones, while Ashley Derrick and Damian Limon also netted in between as Yatton opened up a 4-0 lead. But they made life hard for themselves, gifting Imperial two goals in the closing stages and also having keeper Martin Stone to thank for a superb penalty save.
Yatton took the lead in the early stages when, having successfully defended a corner, winger Lloyd Richardson broke from his own area and travelled half the length of the pitch unchallenged before playing in Alex Bird. And the striker did the rest, taking the ball around the Imperial keeper before slotting home into the empty net.
It didn't take long for Yatton to double their advantage, as captain Ross Titmuss was brought down on the edge of the penalty area and Derrick slammed the resulting free-kick past the helpless keeper. Limon then got in on the act, firing home a shot on the angle from the edge of the box, as Yatton went in at half-time 3-0 up despite having put in an under-par performance up to that point.
The second half was a quieter affair but the home side grabbed a fourth with a classic route one goal. Stone's long kick was allowed to bounce by the Imperial defence and Alex Bird nipped in between the centre-half and keeper to score with a looping header. Imperial grabbed a lifeline when their striker got in between Tony Marshall and Derrick to head home a free-kick, and they continued their comeback when Titmuss's suicidal header back to Stone from 35 yards was seized upon by the front man.
He was felled inside the box as Yatton tried to make up for the mistake but, with the referee playing the advantage, the ball ran free to the left-winger who tapped home.
Yatton looked to be imploding when the referee awarded a penalty after harshly judging a cross had struck Derrick's arm, but Stone made a fine stop down low to his right to keep out the spot-kick.
