JAMIE Molyneux grabbed two goals in seven second half minutes to steer Redditch United to their first Southern League Premier Division win of the season with a 2-1 success against Chippenham Town at the Valley Stadium on Monday.
It was the ideal response from Liam McDonald’s side following Saturday’s dramatic opening day 4-2 defeat at home to much-fancied Cambridge City in which the Reds surrendered a 2-0 lead in the final half hour.
On Tuesday the Reds started brightly as George Carline’s header within the first minute forced a fine save from Kent Kauppinen in the Chippenham Town goal.
A defensive mix-up almost gifted the visitors the lead five minutes later as Luke Ballinger latched on to a long ball, but Sam Hornby got his fingertips to an attempted lob and then Dan Scarr was able to get back and clear Ballinger’s follow-up header off the line.
The early promise disappeared though as the game descended into a dour midfield battle, with Redditch struggling to break down a physical Chippenham side.
However, after the break McDonald’s men attacked with renewed purpose as a 30-yard effort from Ashley Sammons beat the keeper but flew just wide.
The breakthrough came on 52 minutes when a through ball from Jermaine Hylton unlocked the Chippenham defence and Molyneux was able to get in behind and stroke the ball past an onrushing Kauppinen.
On 59 minutes the lead was doubled as Chippenham were dispossessed to the right of their own box and Molyneux gratefully collected the ball and hammered it low into the far corner.
The Reds had plenty of chances to add to their tally. Chippenham’s Shane Blackmore was fortunate his clearance in front of goal from Jermaine Hylton’s low cross sailed over the bar, while Kauppinen was forced into a fine double save on 74 minutes.
After denying substitue Liam Spink’s low shot from just inside the box, he was quick to recover to keep out the rebound effort from fellow substitute Rikardo Reid.
With three minutes of normal time remaining Chippenham were given an unlikely lifeline when a defensive mix-up left Hornby stranded and Blackmore fired into the empty net.
It set-up a nervy finish in which the visitors’ Jorden Roberts saw a long range shot deflected narrowly wide deep into stoppage time, but the Reds held on for a deserved victory.
Redditch could not have envisaged being involved in such a thrilling opening game as Cambridge rallied from a first half Reds blitz to emerge victorious.
United grabbed a fifth minute lead through Sammons’ precision finish after good build-up play by the lively Molyneux, who himself made it 2-0 on 27 minutes with a firm strike inside the near post after he had ghosted past defender Will Lawton.
Hylton and Molyneux then missed gilt-edged chances to increase the lead before the break as the visitors were left shell-shocked, but whatever was in City’s half time refreshments clearly had an impact as they emerged a different outfit after the break.
Goals from Lee Chaffey and Andrew Phillips hauled the visitors level and they then took an 81st minute lead in controversial fashion when Danny Kelly was deemed to have been impeded in the box by Reds midfielder Max Loveridge and Josh Beech scored the resulting penalty.
With the home players and fans stunned by the turnaround, Kelly rifled home a fourth goal for City in the third minute of stoppage time to complete the scoring.
United now face another two huge tests of their abilities as they head to Chesham United on Saturday before heading to St Neots Town on Tuesday – with both opponents eyeing a title challenge this season.
However, McDonald is confident his men have the capabilities to pose their opponents plenty of problems.
“We’ll be going into both matches set up to try and win them,” he said. “We can take many positives from the opening two matches we’ve played.
“On Saturday we were absolutely magnificent for an hour and then, credit to them, Cambridge had a golden half an hour when every shot they had ended up as a goal, but we could and should have already put the outcome beyond doubt.
“We had to work hard to get the three points on Tuesday, but we did and overall it’s been a pleasing start in terms of performances.”
On the injury front, McDonald should be able to call on the services of forward Jamie Spencer and midfielders Liam Spink and Simeon Maye.
