Report

Street welcomed local rivals Shepton Mallet to the Tannery ground for this Somerset Premier Cup 1st round tie & Manager Dave Pople made just two changes from the side that drew at Larkhall last Wednesday. With Tom Clifford-Jones away on his jollies Jon Cox was given his 1st start of the season and Lewis Lambert was recalled to the starting line up in place of Phil Hartnup as the manager kept faith with the 4 3 3 formation.
Street gave their visitors little time to settle as they raced into a 3 goal lead within the 1st 30 minutes which basically ended the game as a contest. The 1st goal came after just 6 minutes when Kye Palmer burst down the right & sent in a low firm cross that 16 year old Ben Nugent rifled into the roof of the net to record his 1st senior goal for the club. 10 minutes later a Lewis Lambert drive from 25 yards was deflected towards goal by Jake Harris but the Shepton keeper got down well to save. A minute later a quick free kick caught the Shepton defence cold & put Martin Pople clear but again the keeper was equal to it and pushed his shot round the post. From the resultant corner though Street doubled their lead & once again it was the Palmer , Nugent combination that did the damage. Kye Palmer’s in swinging corner being met at the near post by Nugent whose glancing header put it beyond the keeper & into the net. Nugent was obviously enjoying his new found goal scoring role and in the 27th minute he unleashed a low rasping drive from fully 35 yards that the keeper found too hot to handle & Dave Pearse was on hand to nudge the ball over the line. With Kye Palmer looking unstoppable down the right flank Street continued to press & Pearse , Bisgrove & Harris were all denied by the Shepton keeper
Shepton did reduce the arrears just before the break when Ben Webb could only get a fingertip to a lob from Richard Healy and the ball dropped into the net & then at the start of the 2nd half
Shepton enjoyed their best spell of the game although they failed to create many chances.
Street were happy to knock the ball about and on the hour mark they went further ahead when Lewis Lambert nodded a clearance straight into the path of Palmer who again out paced the Shepton defence and rounded the keeper but as the ball ran away from home Pearse was on hand to tuck it away for his 2nd of the evening.
2 minutes later Shepton were reduced to 10 men when a tackle by Rich Barnaby was deemed to be dangerous by the Referee and he showed the player a straight red. The game threatened to boil over for a while but eventually things settled down again and the only other action of note was 15 minutes from time when Nugent, looking for his hat-trick, curled a free kick from the edge of the box round the wall and just grazed the post.
All in all it was a good performance from The Cobblers who seem to be recapturing their early season form and creating plenty of chances again whilst staying solid at the back.