Buckden turned up under strength with a few (ex) first teamers off on their jollys in London etc…. This did however favour G Man who was down the pecking order after getting c*nted pre match vs Over and pulled out of the game, it was an opportunity to make amends. Jonnys sneeze in the changing room caused much amusement pre match with many lads thinking Oli had brought his young daughter along but it was however J Lo sneezing.
Two new signings came straight into the squad Alex Shepard and Luke Finnie with Alex starting in centre midfield. Scutty filled in at centre back alongside Dennis after impressing away at Fordham. Luke nearly got angry as he was told he is starting at right back with usual attacking player Dom at left back. Usual suspects were on the left and right flanks, with J Lo and Alex in the centre. Josh partnered G Man up top.
With the warm up completed which Georgie kindly setup up in ‘The Bog’ much to the heavy footed G man’s disappointment which lead to trench foot before the game began. Pitch was luckily in better shape and the game kicked off in decent footballing conditions. First 15/20 mins was pretty well matched between the two sides. St Ives centre mid had J Lo in all sorts by amazingly using the same piece of skill continuously and J Lo falling for it every time. The first goal came from J Lo, a cross from the wing got headed out by a defender to J Lo and he volleyed the ball home very decent finish as he must of still been dizzy from his older brother turning him in circles moments ago. The second followed straight after as Buckden won the ball back G Man and Alex played a one-two then Alex dropped the shoulder created room to fire low past the keeper 2-0 which was game over pretty much. Sam went of injured and on came Luke for his debut on at right back, which shifted Fennell to left back and Dom further forward. St Ives heads went and challenges started to come in with a few yellows been shown. The most deserved was Josh’s for kicking the ball away after the ref had cleary blown for the foul, poor sportsmanship from the captain. Third goal (I think) was thanks to Woo’s hard work and poor defending, a mix up between keeper and defender left Woo with an empty net to claim the third. I believe Dom got the 4th but I can’t remember it at all. End of the half finished 4-0 and team talk was to carry on doing much the same. Main concern was injuries as Goodger was being a fag and not interested in helping his players out if required.
Second half began in a similar way to the first with the first 10/15 mins a non-event, Buckden threatened frequently but nothing clear cut was created. Things livened up when Josh dinked a ball over the top onto G Man who smashed the ball home from the edge of the area. Alex then scored another decent individual goal to make it 6-0. Dom then got a slight knock and meant G Man went wide left to push Dom up top to do what he could…..score another two (which got him a hat trick) both assisted from G Mans left mid delivery. This was the end of the scoring and at 8-0 it was job done, decent goal difference boost as well. Another injury happened as Josh fell awkwardly many turning away thinking it was another `dive’ with Goodger thinking it definitely was as he left him lying there for 5 minutes. Unfortunately it was a nasty fall and Josh couldn’t continue. Instead of coming on himself Goodger sent on the injured Sam to hobble about which lasted 5 minutes before he went off and Buckden continued with 10 men to see out the remaining minutes.
Special mention goes to the back four who played together for the first time and kept a clean sheet, St Ives had one decent opportunity all game from memory.
Overall decent first appearances from Alex and Luke. Make shift line up got the job done and played decent football throughout against a team looking to kick us up in the air. We move onto Fordham next weekend which is massive, a win here we see us 7pts clear in 2nd place. A team night out in St Ives follows hopefully in celebration and another chance to see Dennis in his charity shop gear.
Whole team gets 8/10, apart from Oli who gets 5/10 for being a twat.
