Diddy Demolish Winchester

The Railwaymen gave notice to the rest of the division of what they are capable of on their day by thrashing promotion-chasing Winchester City 5-1 at the Denplan City Ground on Wednesday night. There was no fluke about the result, Didcot were two goals up inside the first six minutes and were never seriously threatened thereafter, the only minor blot on their copybook was conceding a goal with the last kick of the game.

The Citizens had gone into the game having lost two out of their previous three matches and Didcot tore at them from the kick-off. Within two minutes, Josh Dutton-Black’s free-kick found the head of the unmarked Luke Carnell and the visitors were one up. Winchester went from nervy to panicky and after they failed to clear their lines, the ball pinged around in the penalty area. George Jeacock fired goalwards, Carnell stretched out a boot, the ball flew into the bottom corner and the visitors’ advantage was doubled.

Winchester were searching for a foothold in the match but after Leigh Bedwell had executed a fine double save to thwart Warren Bentley and Jamie Barron their impetus fizzled out. The only other meaningful opportunity in the half fell to the Railwaymen; Jeacock’s through ball enabled Kieran Collins to fire on target but keeper Brendan Norris was equal to it, pulling off an instinctive save.

Didcot spared themselves any anxiety by adding to their lead ten minutes into the second half. Mark Janes held possession in the opposition penalty area and then when help arrived, played in Dutton-Black. The subsequent centre was met by Graham Edney, who hammered the ball home from close range.

The comfortable cushion allowed Diddy to bring on some younger players and George Reid had a debut to remember, scoring two excellent goals in the 35 minutes he was on the pitch. The first was smashed in from twenty yards after Dutton-Black had intercepted Norris’s throw out and laid the ball off, the second a fantastic curling finish into the bottom corner following a counter-attack.

The Hampshire outfit notched a consolation goal when Bentley rounded Bedwell and slotted the ball into the empty net but Didcot’s biggest away win of the season and Winchester’s first home league defeat was confirmed seconds later. The result keeps Didcot in tenth place in the standings but they will be looking back this impressive result up when they entertain sixth from bottom Slimbridge on Saturday.