Chasetown FC kept up their impressive pre-season form with a win over an Aston Villa XI.
The only negative to the evening was Danny Smith being carried off on a stretcher after 16 minutes, which forced Andy Cox to use substitute Adebayo Ajidahun for longer than he had probably imagined.
Dean Perrow forced Elliott Parish into a save immediately after the restart following Smith’s injury and then Villa rode their luck on the half hour when Daniel Devine’s back pass to Parish saw the visiting custodian smash the ball straight at Ramone Stephens. But luckily for the away keeper, the ball ricocheted wide for a goal kick.
Although Villa had started brightly, when Kevin MacDonald’s men took the lead on 32 minutes, it was perhaps against the run of play. After a corner kick had only been partially cleared, Richard Bryan fired in a shot which seemed to deflect and wrong foot Ryan Price in the Chasetown goal.
The Scholars were level five minutes before the break when Dean Perrow clinically shot past Parish, to net his fourth goal in four pre-season games.
Villa’s star man, skipper Daniel Johnson, tested Ryan Price with a long range effort on the stroke of half time but the home keeper was equal to it.
The usual flurry of pre-season substitutions did not seem to interrupt the flow of an end-to-end entertaining game of football, and both sides looked capable of forging forward to a victory.
Just short of the hour, Courtney Cameron’s looping header was easily saved by Ryan Price, and within two minutes, Chasetown had gained the lead.
First, sub keeper Benjamin Siegrist made a spectacular save to deny Alex Steadman, but from the resultant corner, taken short by Ramone Stephens to Jake Sedgemore, a pinpoint cross was superbly headed home by Malachi Farquharson.
Villa’s best chance of an equaliser came in the 77th minute. Substitute Callum Robinson rounded goalkeeper Ryan Price, but took the ball too wide and his attempted cross was easily claimed by a retreating Price.
As pre-season friendlies go, this was a classic, which would have left 513 supporters very satisfied with the standard of football from both sides. Even the numerous substitutions never spoiled the flow of the game.
Chasetown: Price (Wiggins 80), Turner (Farmer 80), Heward (M Branch 70), Slater, Farquharson, Teesdale (Stone 80), Stephens (Robinson 80), Sedgemore (Bridgwater 70), Smith (Ajidahun 16), Perrow (Westwood HT), Steadman.
Aston Villa: Parish (Siegrist HT), Nelson-Addy (Grealish 80), Cairu, De La Cruz (Graham 53), Bryan, Donacien (Jenkins 75), Darkin (Melvin 67), Johnson, Taylor (Robinson 53), Burke, Cameron (Webb 75).