The weather was dry and fine, the pitch was in good condition having been mown and white lined.
Hadcroft got off to a positive start putting pressure on the Ruiton defence from the off but the final pass or shot was way below standard. Chris Smith opened the scoring on 10 minutes when he was upended in the box and converted the spot kick 1 – 0. The rest of the first Half is best forgotten with regards to Hadcroft, the final balls were terrible the shooting was wayward and the composure was not as it should be and on 28 minutes with the Hadcroft defence on walkabouts Ruiton took a quick throw on the right and their striker was left one on one with the Hadcroft Keeper Josh Howe 1 – 1. Hadcroft were fortunate to reach half time at 1 – 1.
HALF TIME 1 – 1
The second half started much better Hadcroft settled down and started to play football. On 55 minutes David Chambers gambled on a spill from the Ruiton keeper and slid the ball into the net 2 – 1. On 66 minutes Hadcroft further increased their lead when Chris Smith scored from the tightest of angles 3 – 1. Sarvesh Tah was replaced by Chris Reade on 67 minutes. Sean Gray finally got his shooting boots on and hit the target with a thunderbolt from the edge of the box on 71 minutes 4 – 1. Luke Smith was replaced on 75 minutes by the returning David Smith who nearly had the shortest comeback in history when he trod on the ball after 10 seconds and went flying. The ever willing Julian Probyn increased the lead again on 77 minutes when he never gave up chasing 5 – 1. Chris Smith was replaced by Scott Newman on 78 minutes. Hadcroft had a few further chances but did not hit the back of the net again.
FULL TIME 5 – 1
Next Match Sunday 15th January 2012 KO 10.30am at home against Wollaston Athletic in the Joe Stanton Cup Round 2.
