Match Report: Bluebells Bloom to put Reds in the shade.

Yate Town 2-0 Uxbridge

Fellow promoted side did the double over Uxbridge on Saturday, as The Reds came back from Gloucestershire empty-handed and with only one win in their previous thirteen matches; the rut that Uxbridge are now in cannot come to an end soon enough.

Following the midweek defeat at Berkhamsted, George Moore returned to the starting line-up to bolster the goal threat, and this nearly paid dividends within the first minute. A ball over the top found Moore on the stretch with the Yate defence not set, but he was unable to get enough on the ball and Aaron Sainsbury gathered it in the Yate goal. The omens were good as, only two minutes later, Harry Rush found space on the edge of the box but could only fire over the bar.

With the weather decidedly on the wet and windy side, it was clear this would be an attritional battle—but despite all the recent rain in the West Country, the pitch had held up remarkably well. However, with their first dangerous attack of note, the home side went ahead on 12 minutes as a corner wasn’t dealt with by the Reds' defence and James Ollis was on hand to slam the ball home.

The Reds managed to make inroads out wide, but neither a Nams Nwachuku cross nor, shortly after, a Harry Rush one was able to find any red shirts in the box. Yate almost had a second just before the half-hour as Ollis again proved a real threat and broke clear, but Marco Underwood came out well to smother the chance. Uxbridge had two good opportunities as the half drifted toward the break: firstly, Moore’s low shot went just past the post after good work from Casey Bocarro. Then, Nwachuku did well again on the left, but his superb cross just evaded Toby Nnadozie at the far post, leaving the home side with a narrow lead at the interval.

HT: 0-1

With no improvement in the weather conditions, both teams did well to keep going. It was Yate who went closest first on 52 minutes as Ollis got to the byline and delivered a cross which was only palmed away by Underwood, but Charlie Moody scuffed the loose ball wide with the goal at his mercy. Uxbridge came more into the game, with Frank Keita’s cross just evading Nwachuku on 55 minutes. The visitors' best chance came just three minutes later, as Nnadozie did superbly well to get onto Bocarro’s cross with a deft header, which Sainsbury only kept out with his fingertips at full stretch—Keita’s follow-up was also blocked by the home keeper at the near post.

Uxbridge were soon made to pay as they were undone by a set piece on 66 minutes; a free kick was flicked on by Jackson, leading to hesitation in the Reds' defence, and Ollis nipped in to tap home at the back post. From then on, Yate managed the game well, restricting Uxbridge to some half-chances, the best of which came as a cross into the box reached substitute Ada Okorogheye, but the ball didn’t fall right for him or Nwachuku. Some good news for Uxbridge saw the return of Cole Brown from the bench late on. There was time for Monks to almost add a third for Yate with a couple of minutes remaining as his curling effort from 20 yards skimmed the bar, but it remained 2-0.

Uxbridge have now scored just once in the last three matches and have slipped down to 14th in the league, just seven points from the relegation zone. It’s another road trip next weekend as we travel to Basingstoke trying to arrest this slide in form.

FT: 0-2

Uxbridge: Underwood, Boorn (Brown), Bocarro, Fearn, Stepney, Nnadozie (Bailey), Perez-Duah, Rush (Montague), Nwachuku, Moore (Okorogheye), Keita.

Match gallery here courtesy Emma Neumann-Russell