New signing Mickey Fold found his fiery feet and bagged a glorious hatrick for Casuals in their first win of the season in the bottom of the table clash with Rivercity Braves.
The day dawned a tad damp and persistent rain softened up a number 2 pitch which was certainly a great assistance for the Casual’s weary and achy joints.
With Matt Manimal Roberts pulling out late due to some canine capers, and John Dale injured a hamstring in a game of Hungry Hippo prior to the match. The Casuals called in reserve midfielder Ben Murphy.
The game started fairly evenly with Casuals springing forward from midfield but the Chiefs defence were solid at this point. The puit of nowgere a pinpoint Chiefs free kick from the left flank was inadvertently turned into his own goal by Ian Gomez, somewhat against the run of play. But soon Paul Miller sent Mickey Fold in for an equaliser, though there were some concerns it may have been fractionally offside.
The jinky Chiefs strikers combined soon after and one of them buried a shot past keeper Buchanan.
However on half time Fold was yanked and pulled like a massage parlour customer, in the penalty area. A hesitation ensued before a geezerish Paul Miller stepped up to place the ball home for the equaliser. Pop, bang, and indeed, lovely.
The second half saw the Casuals take more control in the game and sorties into the Chiefs penalty area saw Mickey Fold score two more goals from square crosses from the by-line. A Chiefs attack then saw an altercation between a Chief striker and Ivan Gomez with the Chief being somewhat harshly red carded by the imported referee.
This ended any comeback from the Chiefs. Cameron Dale scored late on to make it 5-2 and it should have been six when the Chiefs keeper upended Murphy in the box only for the referee to mysteriously wave the protests away.
So the Casuals win for the first time in 2016. A huge performance all round - Mickey Fold’s play with and without the ball was exceptional as were Andy Gilberd, Paul Miller and Ivan Gomez in their respective roles. Keeper Buck Buchanan was like a rock in goal with Brendan Haughian finding his pre USA form at centre back.
Braves face up next week against the Casuals. It may be a brave man who bets against the Marist boys.
