Sendings-off mar encounter

Churchill 1

Street Reserves 2

Street Reserves have condemned Churchill to almost certain relegation after their end-of-season victory.

Street, who themselves have been struggling for a large part of the season, ended their campaign in fine style and finished in 11th spot.

The opening exchanges were fairly even and, although early chances were limited, Aden Wills went close for Street when he lifted the ball over keeper Simon Thorne, but also agonisingly over the crossbar at the same time.

The only goal of the opening 45 minutes came on the stroke of half-time when Chris Milner, who was playing in an unaccustomed midfield role, found Dan Catley with an astute pass. Catley in turn set up a goalscoring opportunity for the in-form Wills and the youngster cut inside a defender before firing a fine shot into the far corner of the net.

The second half was evenly balanced once again, but, with the Street defence and in particular Carl Guymer looking solid, the home side were finding it increasingly difficult to get many shots on target.

Street doubled their advantage on 57 minutes when another good break out of defence, this time by Sam Mullins, saw the youngster brought down in the penalty area and referee Andy McCabe had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Dan Catley stepped up to put away the spot-kick, his 12th league goal of the campaign.

Wills on two more occasions went close for Street, but it was the home side who reduced the arrears with a free-kick on 83 minutes. In what was to be a frantic finish, Churchill who were striving for an equaliser, saw their chances reduced dramatically as they ended the game with just nine men as referee McCabe brandished two red cards.

Street manager Paul Dowden said: "It was a really good game for 85 minutes, although the sendings-off put a dampener on the game at the end.

"We are a very young side and we responded well in our last 13 games when relegation was a real threat. Overall I am pleased with how things have turned out and it has been enjoyable, despite our first half of the season being a little disappointing."