A record win saw Northwood Reds through to the last 16 of the County Cup.
The scoring started from the 1st minute from Northwood’s first corner taken by Lewis Reid, the corner in this was half cleared but found Joshua on the edge of the penalty area and he finished well for what was going to be the first of his seven goals.
The second goal came 2 minutes later after a fine run and finish again from Joshua. Joshua's 8 minute hatrick was completed when he picked up on an error from a defender and scored past a helpless goalkeeper. Between the goals going in Northwood were enjoying good possession and were working the ball well out from the defence of George , Daniel & Lewis Ryan. It was from one of these moves that Lewis Reid opened his scoring for the day, a well measured pass from Declan saw Lewis complete the move with a well taken goal. Explorers were still putting some good counter attacks together but Rayyan was holding firm in goal and was keeping the long range efforts out.
Northwood's 5th goal came from a great passing move that started with Daniel breaking up an Explorers move finding Ben Bambrough who in turn found Callum who threaded a great ball trough for Joshua to get his 4th of the day. The first of the changes were made and on cam Ben Freeth who got straight into the scoring with a close range shot finding the target from a Lewis Reid corner 6-0 Northwood and the half time whistle blew.
Both teams showing impeccable behaviour for the 2 minute silence that was observed before the second half started at 11am. On came William and Saihaan for Northwood and the changes again were made. Explorers to their credit were still showing fight and started the second half well and Rayyan was pulled into action to make a fine save from a good strike from the visitors number 10.
A well taken free kick from Lewis Reid saw Joshua go in his 5th and the teams 7th. Joshua then turned provider for goal number 8 as Saihaan got in on the scoring from another good passing move started by Ben Freeth. Joshua completed his scoring with 2 more well taken goal one from a Lewis Reid cross the other from a good pass from Saihaan 10-0 Northwood. Again the Northwood coaches were able to make some more changes trying to test players in different positions.
Northwood's 11th of the day came from a well stuck Lewis Reid free kick just inside the Explorers half.
Explorers then had a well worked move with their captain scoring a well-deserved goal to make the score 11-1. From the kick off the boys went back up the other end and made it 12-1 with Lewis Reid completing his hatrick with another well taken goal.
To the credit of Explorers they never gave up and their number 9 scored a second goal to make it 12-2. With only a minute left Callum finished well from another well worked move starting with good defensive header from Joshua , who had well and truly earned his player of the match by finishing the game at centre back.
Whilst the goal scorers did finish well today the overall team all the way from the defence through the midfield played really well today.This was a very good performance against a team that never gave up but I am sure they will be a stiffer test in the next round against either Wembley B or Parkside A.
