Whaddon United made the journey to Dursley Town as they faced off in the Gloucestershire Northern Senior League, with both of the teams coming into the game on equal points.
They shared the top spot three ways with themselves and Tewkesbury Town all on 21 points heading into the weekend.
But it was Dursley that have been left chasing the leader after Karl Nash’s Whaddon United found a way against their league rivals, winning the game 2-1.
big 3 points for the lads today as we take a 2-1 win away from home vs a good @DursleyTownAFC.a highly anticipated game it was action from the start. Both teams creating. We took the lead into HT. Dursley levelled after the half. We stuck at it and got the winner #upthewhaddon pic.twitter.com/TSF5KlUib8
— Whaddon united (@whaddonuntied) October 13, 2024
Despite it being early on in the season, Nash recognised the enormity of the game and knew it was a must win for his side.
He said: “We went into it knowing it was going to be a hard game because they hadn’t lost a game all season, so we knew it was going to be a big game.
“Especially with us playing away from home as well, which is always a little bit harder.”
The Whaddon boss believed his side got off to the better start and were able to control the game well, He said: “We worked hard all over the pitch, we started the game well and I thought we were dominant in the first half and we didn’t give them many chances and we defended very well.
“We scored the goal in the first half and we kept really strong until half time.”
But it was not all plain sailing for Whaddon despite going into half time a goal up, they quickly found themselves back where they started after Dursley were able to grab a quick goal before the restart.
However, Nash was impressed with the way his side was able to battle back, He said: “We responded really well, everybody started working hard and I felt we began to dominate the game again.
“We found another goal to make it 2-1. From there we continued to dominate the game and we didn’t give them anymore chances.”
His side were able to get over the line and hold on to collect all three points, He said: “Towards the end of the game in the last ten minutes, they put a big press on against us but we managed to hold on.”
This puts Whaddon on 24 points and level with Tewkesbury Town, with only goal difference separating the two sides.
Still tight at the top after another round of exciting fixtures⚽️#GNSL #DIV1 pic.twitter.com/l1SrA69LPJ
— GNSL (@GNSLOfficial) October 14, 2024
Nash continues to recognise Tewkesbury as their main threat in the league and said he knows how important it is to pick up every available point .
He said: “We knew we could not slip up, because with Tewkesbury pushing on at the top, we knew they wouldn’t drop points today.
“So we have to keep the squeeze on them for as long as we can, we cant afford to drop points at the moment.”
Whaddon and Dursley will face off again next week but this time in the County Cup, with this game being the reverse of the fixture being played in Whaddon.
Nash said that he will expect a slightly different game than the one at the weekend with this game being in the cup.
He said: “It will be a little bit of a different side next week, just because it’s the cup and some of the other lads will need a run out just to keep the squad fit.”
