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Blues beaten at Westfield

Westfield II 4 - 1 Sidley United - ESFL Premier Division

It was a derby day to forget for Sidley United as they slipped to 7th in the ESFL Premier Division following defeat at neighbours Westfield II.

With their first team without a fixture, the home side gave a match to a number of first team players and this showed as they began on the front foot with Sidley defending deeply. On 14 minutes though a nice move down the right hand side saw Ritchie Gray come out to block the attacker but missing the ball. However the ball was squared across the goal and tapped home at the far post to avoid the penalty being awarded.

Westfield grabbed two more quick fire goals; firstly a shot from the edge of the area finding the corner of the net on 27 minutes before the home side did win a penalty for a foul by Dan Hilder which was converted on 29 minutes.

Sidley didn't give up though and had a couple of free kicks in promising positions which ultimately came to nothing. They did register though on 42 minutes as Andy Atkin broke through on goal and although his effort was saved well, the ball landed to Logan Copley who smashed it into the top corner to reduce the arrears.

That goal gave Sidley a bit of hope they might take something from the game but all hope was extinguished on 70 minutes when a harsh penalty was given for handball by Gary Hempe, who had made a great block tackle on a Westfield forward and the ball then bounced up and struck his arm whilst he was on the ground. Hempe took his appeals too far for the referee's liking and was sin-binned whilst the penalty was calmly converted.

The Blues kept going but the game was gone and the home side came away with all three points. Sidley will look to bounce back next week when they welcome Crowhurst to Hooe Rec.

Sidley Team: Gray, Bradbury, Carey, Mote, Hempe (Britt), Hilder (Sam), S Atkin, Witham (Wade), Ball, A. Atkin, Copley.

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