Ten-man Westfield celebrate 4-0 win

Westfield's footballers pulled off a splendid 4-0 victory at home to Lancing United on Saturday, despite playing most of the match with 10 men.
Liam Ward put Westfield ahead with a wonder strike from the halfway line.Liam Ward put Westfield ahead with a wonder strike from the halfway line.
Liam Ward put Westfield ahead with a wonder strike from the halfway line.

The Westies had Asher Grindle sent-off after around 15 minutes, but scored three times thereafter against top four opposition in Macron Store Southern Combination Football League Division Two.

“It was a brilliant performance bearing in mind we had 10 men for 75 minutes,” said Westfield goalkeeper Jack Stapley. “The pleasing thing for me was the players listened to what I said at half time about how I wanted to play and they didn’t ever really look like scoring.”

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Westfield opened the scoring in spectacular fashion when Liam Ward spotted the goalkeeper off his line and brilliantly lobbed the ball over him.

Sam Winter doubled Westfield's lead from the penalty spot. Picture courtesy Jon SmalldonSam Winter doubled Westfield's lead from the penalty spot. Picture courtesy Jon Smalldon
Sam Winter doubled Westfield's lead from the penalty spot. Picture courtesy Jon Smalldon

The goalkeeper tripped as he attempted to scramble back and landed on his arm, suffering a suspected broken arm and dislocated elbow. The game was held up for 20-25 minutes while the goalkeeper received treatment.

Barely a minute after the action resumed, Westfield forward Asher Grindle was sent-off for retaliation after being elbowed in the face, in the view of Stapley. The Lancing player involved in the incident received a yellow card.

Westfield sat back thereafter and allowed Lancing to have possession at the back, but the visitors did little with it and home goalkeeper Stapley didn’t have a shot to save in the first half.

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Lancing again had a lot of the ball in the second period, although much of it was in their own half. Westfield restricted Lancing mainly to shots from distance and hit them on the break.

Sam Winter put them two-up with a penalty after Sam Ellis beat the full-back and was hacked down in the box. Ellis was again heavily involved in the third goal, making his way into the left-hand side of the box and pulling the ball back for Zak Hurst to finish nicely from six yards.

Ellis turned from provider to scorer of the fourth goal, rounding the goalkeeper and tapping home after being put through by Josh Carey.

Westfield: Stapley; May, McGuigan, Dicken, Durrant; Winter, Ward (Barrett), Adams (Carey); Cochrane (Hurst), Grindle, Ellis.

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