A tepid affair on a lovely spring afternoon was settled by a Dave Jones hat-trick and a delicious curler by Mike Morrison. The 4-1 victory for CCK has maintained their solid fifth place position.
A day of beautiful weather set the tone for a relaxed match at Wish Park. It was almost a stroll in the park as neither side displayed much gumption and desire to play to their full potential. Moments of class won the day for CCK whose mentality was reminiscent of a nice afternoon of sunbathing and sipping on sangria. They were soon made to work, when a defensive slip allowed Harley Alexander-Sule to strike the ball superbly into the top corner for the visitors. It didn't take long for the equaliser. A controversial penalty decision was awarded after Tim Rose was bundled over in the box in what Southern Rangers believed was a mere 50-50. Pundits were split on the decision as the challenge was a foul but seemed soft for a penalty. Dave Jones stepped up and tucked the ball away, only for the referee to make him retake the penalty. The penalty was struck with th same outcome and CCK were back on level terms. The Badgers then seemed to take control without really getting out of second gear. Mike Morrison dribbled skillfully on the edge of the area before curling the ball past the keeper with a neat finish. The lead gave the Badgers confidence. Perhaps too much as they strolled through the half with few passes being strung together. The threat at the other end was minimal and this perhaps contributed to CCK's lacklustre performance. The third goal came after good work by Matt Vitty down the right and when his shot was parried Dave Jones was on hand to tap the ball home from a yard out. 3-1 without really breaking a sweat and despite the comfortable scoreline CCK's performance was well below-par.
The second half showed signs of improving, especially when the fourth goal went in. After a decent move Matt Vitty squared for Dave Jones, who took his shot early and burried it in the corner with his right foot. The goal sealed his second hat-trick of the season and put the game to bed early in the half. Despite opening up a three goal advantage CCK continued to take it easy. Matt Vitty was thwarted however, when a lucky ricoquet was cleared off the line. He then shot narrowly wide after a good pass from Mike Morrison. Dave Jones hit the post from long range when the keeper had gone walkabout. Defensively CCK were hardly troubled but well equiped to cope with any threat with Kit Perkins communicating and commanding well. Gary Walke saw a late header from a corner go wide as the game came to a slow end. The three points were pleasing if not the CCK performance.
Fans forums were inundated with optimistic fans believing that CCK could rally late in the season to win the title under the noses of their rivals. Tim Rose chose to keep his feet on the ground when he spoke on the sofa of the Match of the Day 2 studio, "The title is a long shot in reality, it isn't in our hands so we need to keep plugging away and aim to do what we can to get as many points as we can muster and see where that puts us. We played within ourselves yesterday and still won which was good, but if we are to keep winning we'll need to improve our performance." Captain on the day, man of the match, and hat-trick hero Dave Jones was pleased to get the three points and the three goals when he spoke with reporters after the game, "We were no where near our best today, but we made the most of our chances and got the win. That was the difference between us and them. It is a good sign winning when you are not on form, so we can't be too unhappy even though we should be playing better than that." The fans will be hoping for a similar result and a much improved performance when CCK FC face Premiership leaders AFC Falmer Falcons next week at Stanmer Park.
