The Alex stretched their winning streak to a whopping 12 games as they inflicted total humiliation on The Pigeons with a brutal and hard fought victory at Clapham Common on Sunday afternoon.
A windy and rainy day did little to dampen the confident mood that The Alex arrived and started the game as a sweeping team move inside five minutes ended up with Stroudy flicking on to the outstanding Miller to fire home and grab his and The Alex’s first goal of the game.
It sparked The Pigeons into life; they were incensed and began to bomb forward at every opportunity in search of the equaliser. And they did not have to wait long; from defending their own goal one second, the next they speedily broke away and with The Alex players unable to catch up, their midfielder rounded debutant goalkeeper Matt to score from an acute angle, 1-1.
The game had now burst into life as The Pigeons had their wings (tails) up - their goal had given them a renewed confidence that this game was their for the taking but The Alex resisted from panicking and stayed firm having the belief to keep calm and carry on with their tenacious display. Little space and time was being allowed on the ball as both teams tore over the pitch looking for that killer pass and on the 20th minute it came. Goodman latched onto a through ball, his shot rebounded out to the on-rushing Miller and from 25 yards out, he effortlessly steered the ball home.
Yet again The Alex, who last tasted picking up anything but three points back in early November were pegged back by a defiant opposition. A free-kick wide left was looped in and managed to defy everyone ending somehow in the back of the net, 2-2.
With the game just moments away from half time, the brilliant James Allcott won the ball in the middle of the park, who subsequently laid it off to Daisy who played an eye of the needle reverse pass to Safa who finished neatly into the far corner. The crowd erupted and The Alex were in the lead for the third time in the match. 3-2 HT
A few stern and encouraging words from Riley and Co put The Alex in a determined mood to finish this game once and for all. And they did. Our defence of Will, Riley, Rich and Paddy looked assured, the midfielders were dogged and our strikers were grabbing the headlines with their goals galore performances.
The second half saw genuine character and flashes of real quality as we pressed on knowing the importance of improving our already superior goal difference. The Alex were impressive in their muscular performance, snuffing out The Pigeons creative threat and smothering their aerial menace. Then we put a strangle hold on the tie with four astonishing goals in a breathless second half display. The superb Rob Goodman was released down the left by a clever ball by Daisy who attacked the box with purpose and delivered the ball to the hard working Stroudy who smoothly nudged it on for hat-trick hero Oli Miller to tap in.
The Pigeons were running out of steam and the fifth quickly followed. A long goal kick from Matt, the first Australian to play for The Alex, found its way to Goodman who curled a peach around their goalie from the edge of the box, 5-2. The fans were off the seats again soon after as The Alex were relentless; pressing the opposition high up the pitch, whilst covering every blade of grass to win the ball back. The pressure told. Daisy picked the ball up on the half way line and went on a rare Stanley Matthews esq. dribble that ended up with him beating 4 opponents before crossing for Goodman to coolly finish.
The Alex continued to turn the screw as Jimmy Wardle did excellently to win the ball and deliver an inch perfect cross for Goodman to nod in - grabbing the second hat-trick of the day and his first for the club, 7-2.
Another potentially tricky tie has been put to bed and The Alex march on to face…The Pigeons – same again – yes please!
