Another comfortable and dominant display saw Athletic run out nine nil winners in their third match. The away team were seldom troubled in a match that they held total control.
An early shot by Barrett was saved by the keeper and the resulting corner was delivered beautifully by Davies evading all, until Gough tapped in from close range.
Shortly after Barrett capitalised on an error from a goal kick and went through to strike the ball to the bottom corner past the oncoming keeper.
The dominance continued as Barrett sent Lucas-Howells through, but his shot was saved. The ever reliable delivery of Davies was again shown as he corner whipped in, but Gough’s effort was met by a resolute opposition keeper.
A rare break for the opposition looked dangerous, but a through ball was met by the head of McLeese and the second wave of attack was calmly dealt with Mortimer who rolled the ball to Chaston. The Athletic keeper showed great feet to find Burrow’s, who then found Davies on the wing, but the cross was blocked. Total football from back to front. An opposition corner a few minutes later was met by McLeese. His long ball was flicked on by Barrett into the path of Gough who thundered through to grab his second.
The second half saw a number of changes and got off to a flyer when Barrett showed great vision and cut the defence in half with a ball to Lazarus. Fresh on the pitch he took no time to find his feet and slammed the ball home with a cracking finish.
A long ball through saw the opposition one on one, but Chaston closed the angle and the shot was cleanly taken by the Athletic keeper.
An Athletic corner, delivered by Barrett was met on the volley by the Gough. The hat trick secured and a smile to match.
Lazurus then found Barrett whose shot was parried to Gough and his cross found Lucas-Howells in the middle who made no mistake with a rasping left foot strike.
The pressure continued and a Barrett shot was saved low by the keeper, but a slight spill from the save saw Lazarus pounce and bundle the ball home for his second of the match.
A break by the opposition left Athletic exposed, but Maciejewski marshalled his man and the attack fizzled out.
A quick break saw the ball find Mortimer in the box. Unselfishly he rolled the ball back to McLeese who hit the ball with venom, but the keeper pushed it wide. Another corner, this time by Lucas-Howells was met by Mortimer on the head, and after several attempts in recent weeks, this flew pat the keeper and secured the game’s final goal.
The end was near, but another break saw Davies striding through, he cut in from the left and let go with a great effort, narrowly missing the target.
A report that has a lot of attacking focus, by virtue of the fact the defence didn’t see too much of the ball, but when called upon, they again showed that they have taken to 9 a side and offside brilliantly.
A superb performance, from back to front, and 18 goals without reply after 3 games.
COYY!
