Another game against Olympic Saltdean Oval and another rout! The BBOB manager decided to rest regular starters Howard Lloyd & Adam Leaver, and Saltdean failed to find a full team, starting the game with just ten players (again!!). Ben Wheatland made his first start of season, up front with Matt Barton; they linked up in the early exchanges, both coming close to opening the score! In the 10th minute, Matt Barton scored the first goal of the match, Ed Wyeth's long throw found Matt inside the Saltdean area and he placed his shot past the keeper at the near post! Seven minutes later BBOB were two up, a good move down the right hand side found Ben Wheatland in space and inside the area, he buried his shot across the keeper into the the net. Before Saltdean had any time to recover BBOB were three up, this time a Ben Wheatland effort was parried by the opposition keeper straight to Matt Barton who buried his chance with ease! For the next 17 minutes BBOB appeared to sit back, possibly feeling the game was already won, this allowed Saltdean to make a few attacks, including a couple of corners, but the BBOB defence and goal keeper Craig Watson were equal to any attack they had.
In the 35 minute a BBOB corner found Keith Churchward with the goal at his mercy, only for him to take his eye off the ball and land a tame effort off his thigh straight against the post and out for a goal kick! Two minutes later after a further spell of possession by the BBOB attack, the ball fell to BBOB debutant and left midfielder Jac Edwards on the edge of the area, his well taken low strike gave the opposition keeper no chance and made it 4 - 0. In the second minute of added time in the first half, Ed Wyeth's corner found the head of Keith Churchward, the ball looped up and somehow through the keeper's grasp into the net to make it 5! As Keith hasn't scored (or looked like scoring) for BBOB since the turn of the century, this won't be going down as an own goal! Half time 5-0.
The second half started in the same manner as the first with BBOB completely on top; three half time substitutions were made by manager Steve Maskell. Howard Lloyd replaced Chris Thomas in the centre of midfield. Dan Buchanan replaced Keith Churchward at left back (Keith still couldn't believe that he had scored so was happy to come off!), and Adam Leaver replaced Sam Hamburger at centre back. It took BBOB just six minutes to increase their lead, the ball fell to Ben Wheatland 12 yards out, he turned and placed his shot in the bottom right hand corner. Shortly after this Saltdean scored with their only attack of the second half. The ball was won in midfield, a ball up the line somehow found the Saltdean left winger, BBOB felt that the Saltdean centre forward had fouled centre half Josh Staniforth, the referee didn't see it and the resulting cross was deflected in off the unfortunate Adam Leaver.
Shortly after this a Saltdean player had to leave the pitch with an injury to his knee, leaving them down to nine men, BBOB didn't sit back, they took full advantage of this, in the 63rd minute the ball fell to striker Matt Barton on the edge of the area, his curling shot, beat the keeper and found the top left hand corner of the net to complete his hat-trick. BBOB's eighth goal was a fine shot from midfielder Howard Lloyd from about 25 yards after a good run at the Saltdean defence. In the 70th minute Ben Wheatland completed his hat-trick with coolly taken close range effort from an Ed Wyeth cross, the less said about the goal celebration the better! More like a roly poly than a somersault! More bad luck for Saltdean was to follow, as another player picked up an injury and left the field of play!
So with Saltdean now down to eight players, BBOB had almost too much space to play the ball around, and started to waste some good chances to increase the lead. In the 71st minute right back Paul Barton, pushing up into midfield won the ball and knocked it square to midfielder James Sansom-Constantini, his well taken shot from 20 yards found the top right hand corner of the net to make it 10-1. A minute later, another good BBOB attack found Matt Barton on goal his shot was saved by the keeper and rebounded to Ed Wyeth, his fierce strike from 12 yards gave the keeper no chance! Just after this the Saltdean captain removed himself from the pitch after claiming he was treated roughly by the two BBOB centre halves, he was clearly frustrated by his team's efforts. The game would have been abandoned at this point but the referee managed to persuade one of the injured players to return to the pitch so that the game could be continued. Effectively, Saltdean were down to seven players and BBOB only scored one more goal. The final goal of the game was arguably the best of the bunch. Again, Paul Barton won the ball in midfield and his perfectly timed through ball found right winger Ed Wyeth in space his cross found the head of Matt Barton at the near post to make the final score BBOB 12 Olympic Saltdean Oval 1 and give Matt Barton his fourth goal of the match!
Match report by Paul Barton
