Ross-on-Wye 1st XI travelled to Cardiff to face Whitchurch C in their first friendly of season and managed to hang on to the final whistle to claim a 2-1 victory against Whitchurch C. Ross made their pressure count when they caught Whitchuch on the break after good play by Tom Walton and Phil Evans the ball found its way to Sam Warner who's reverse stick shot beat the Whitchurch keeper to put Ross one nil up.
Whitchurch started to gain a foothold in the game halfway through the first half. They managed to force a few short corners which were defended well by Ross. The defence of Lawrence Raasch, David Skyrme, Richard Jennison and Luke Ward seemed as if they would be able to get Ross through to half time with a 1-0 advantage, until some sloppy play let Whitchurch hit Ross on the break and scored a neat goal. After half time Whitchurch picked up where they finished off the first half and spent the majority of the second half attacking the Ross goal, Andrew Ridgway pulled off a number of good saves and various last grasp tackles kept Ross level. This is just what they did in a rare attack into the Whitchurch half Matthew Saunders forced a short corner with a scintillating run down the right wing.
On the short corner that followed, the ball was played to Tom Walton's whose sweet strike left the Whitchurch keeper looking on in despair.
The ball bobbled over his pads and trickled across the line. Against the run of play Ross had taken the lead with 10 minutes to play and Whitchurch threw everything at the goal. Ross at times didn't help themselves by not retain possession well and handing the ball back to Whitchurch to mount another onslaught at the Ross goal, but this will improve with experience at playing at a higher level.