By Steve Pinder
Many may have expected this away trip to end with a comfortable win for Thornbury who, prior to kick off, sat in second place in the Hellenic Premier table.
Droitwich were hampered by the absence of first team regulars Nathan Binner, captain James Lemon and the injured Rohan Levy unavailable to manager Quentin Townsend who once again had to field something of a makeshift team.
This meant Alex Dugmore had to return to his former centre back role.

The absences listed above also presented the opportunity for experienced front man Lee Chilton to make his debut for Droitwich having recently joined the club on a joint registration.

The game started brightly with Spa enjoying a lot of possession and both Chilton and Archie Thurston gave the Thornbury back four plenty to think about. Then, with half an hour on the watch, a right sided attack from the hosts saw Alex Dugmore block the ball with his head only to see it ricochet against his hand.
The referee pointed to the spot, overruling advice from the linesman. The resulting 32nd minute penalty was converted by Chambers despite a valiant effort from Dom Rogerson in the Spa goal.

The Saltmen were not to be down for long and struck back within four minutes. A period of pressure resulted in a Spa corner which Alex Dugmore converted in trademark style with a powerful header from 5 yards out.

Unfortunately, as has been the case all season, bad luck was just around the corner.
Perry Moss was slightly late to challenge Jake Goodfield.
It was a foul, it may even have been a booking but, perhaps influenced by the Thornbury number eight’s reaction, the referee brandished a red card.
An already difficult task had just got appreciably harder. But the Saltmen are hewn of stern stuff and made it to half time on equal terms.

The second period produced a fabulous demonstration of guts and determination from every one of the remaining ten Droitwich men. Each can take enormous credit for sticking to the big ask of keeping the hosts out. The Spa back four repelled wave after wave of Thorns attacks. It is difficult to remember a performance of such dominance by a Spa centre back partnership. Dugmore and Sam Carey ate up a barrage of balls sent into the Droitwich box.
Full-backs Phillips and Clayton stood strong to minimise the threat from flanks.
Led by Cory Rudd, the midfield tracked back time and time again making vital blocks, interceptions and tackles.

Credit must also go to the front pairing of Archie Thurston and new man Chilton who both ran themselves into the ground offering an outlet ball to teammates and closing down their opponents to great effect. In fact, The Saltmen could have stolen all three points if a late ball deep into the box had fallen kindly but alas, in the end the ten Spa men had to settle for the one.

The team left the field to a rousing response from the hardy group of around 20 travelling supporters.

The result means Droitwich have moved out of the bottom two and up to 18th in the table.
The next game is a Home fixture at Kingys against Malmesbury on Saturday 3rd October (ko 3pm).