Royalists triumph before heavy loss to the Cityzens
Windsor FC have endured an up-and-down week, having beaten Spelthorne Sports 4-2 at the weekend for their first league win since August, before losing 5-0 to Reading City on Tuesday evening.
Mick Woodham’s men looked set for another draw in Saturday's match with Spelly, with the game locked at 2-2 heading into the final stages.
But in a dramatic end to the game, captain Luke Appleton nodded the hosts in front on the stroke of full-time before Jake Jordan fired home a fourth to confirm the points after great work from Oliver Barbosa Costa.
Earlier in the game, Kelvin Karaian had fired Spelly in front, after Connor McShane had been sent off for handling the ball close to his goal line. Spelly then fell foul of the same decision, the referee pointing to the spot after Josh Remidios handled in the area and Tyler Robinson converting the spot kick to make it 1-1.
A great strike by Leo Pedro put the Royalists ahead after half-time, the goal assisted by Basim Mirtahmasebi, before Ollie Davidson swiftly equalised for Spelly.
No further goals were scored in the following half-an-hour, and the game looked to be petering out for a 2-2 draw before Windsor completed a grandstand finish to claim victory.
Afterwards, boss Woodham expressed his joy with the result:
“Very pleased for the boys, the three points are valuable. It was a hardfought
game and a deserved win. On to Tuesday!”
Sadly, for the manager, the Royalists’ failed to build on that encouraging display against the high-flying Cityzens at Stag Meadow on
Tuesday. With a handful changes to their lineup from Saturday, Windsor quickly found themselves under pressure with Reading scoring twice in the first 15 minutes.
Joe Pilling opened the scoring for City in the 14th minute before Tyler D’Cruz added a second a minute later.
Josh Baines made it 3-0 in the 24th minute with a strong header from a corner before D’Cruz grabbed himself another goal four minutes before the break.
D'Cruz then completed his hat-trick in first half stoppage time, completing a thoroughly miserable half for the hosts. The results combined leave Windsor 14th in the Combined Counties Premier Division North ahead of Saturday's trip to Edgware & Kingsbury.