THE Villagers travelled to Pitchcroft for the third time in seven days on Sunday and unfortunately, things did not start to well in this Worcester League division three fixture.

ST JOHN'S SPORTS 1, VILLAGERS 3

At the heart of the Villagers defence, Jamie Plant showed composure and reading of the game beyond his 18 years and that, coupled with the reflexes of Sadi Ali in goal, was all that kept the score down to 1-0 at half-time. The scorer was Andrew Gaiderman with a header after a save from an in-swinging corner by Ali.

At half-time, manager Nathan Wanklin decided to introduce Jake Dover and himself to try and bolster up the Villagers midfield.

It proved to be the deciding factor in the game and after Wanklin put Phil Wild in behind the defence he crossed for Neil Morgan to score comfortably.

Ten minutes later, Wanklin was involved again and after good work from Paul Knivett, and another cross from Phil Wild, he flicked the ball to Mark Tilley, who drilled home from eight yards.

At this point the Villagers began to dominate the middle of the park and Wanklin again put Paul Knivett in to cross for an unfortunate own goal to put the game beyond doubt.

Thanks to sponsors E&E Engineering and match sponsor Simply Mobile Solutions.