Fairfield Villa 2-3 Droitwich Spa

Droitwich Spa came away with their first win of the league season in the seering heat at the Rec against local rivas Fairfield Villa.

Their struggling hosts came flying out of the traps for the first 20 minutes and Spa found it difficult to get a grip on the game.
Matt Oliver had to be at his best to keep out a powerful drive for Daniel Pitt, but it wasn't long before Villa took the lead.

Some poor defending from a left sided corner allowed Alex Dugmore to leap highest and head the hosts ahead at the near post.

This seemed to inspire Spa though, and they started to get the ball down and play some football which had been lacking in several games at the start of this season.

The equaliser soon came - Glover's corner was flicked on and in the ensuing melee, Mark Burrows was there to stab the ball home from close range - the defender's first goal since returning to the club.

Another blow for Droitwich was soon to follow, as influential club stalwart Andy Crowther pulled up with a hamstring strain.
Macauley Finch replaced him, and within 5 minutes he was on the score-sheet himself.

A cross from deep by Chris Glover should have been a routine catch for Aaron Collins in the home goal, but the stopper managed to let the ball slip between his hands and Finch couldn't believe his luck as he made sure on the line to send the sizeable away following into raptures.

Fairfield then came back into the game with some sustained pressure before the break. A couple of hand-ball decisions went against them, however Mark Burrows' challenge on Dugmore just moments before the half time whistle was adjudged to have been a foul, even if the contact looked minimal.
Daniel Pitt confidenly stepped up to send Oliver the wrong way - nestling a well taken penalty low into the corner.

The heat was clearly affecting both sets of players, and in the second half the pace of the game slowed and the two sides cancelled each other out with chances at both ends at a premium.

However, on 64 minutes Morris's ball to Lemon on the counter-attack was flicked into the path of the returning Bradley Burgess who beat the offside trap and finished expertly past Collins to give Droitwich all three points.