Paul Ryder and his team turned up at Enville Athletic Saturday on a run of seven straight wins. Morale was high and his squad has an unbelievable team-spirit within the ranks and they are playing the best football they have ever played under Ryder.
The team had a slight re-shuffle from last week with Jack Duffy and Adam Reece being missing and Paul Ryder not needed so Anthony Short dropped to right back, Carl Thompson came in at centre half with Liam Williams moving up top alongside Sam Hulme. Danny Charlton moved wide to accommodate the change and had one of his best ever games for the club.
With the teams Halloween Party on the night the lads were eager to get three points in the bag before the party and didn’t disappoint as they raced into a four goal lead within the first 18 minutes as Enville couldn’t live with the fast paced football the Lions hit them with.
Danny Charlton was simply unplayable on the day and their full backs just couldn’t handle him whether he was on the right or the left. When he moved flanks and they thought they had a break, Aaron Anderson ran at them as well and with Liam Williams and Sam Hulme also spinning into the wide positions at times their defence just couldn’t mark the attacking four. Nathan Leek and Curtis Thomas controlled the temp of the game in the middle and hit the wide men every chance they had and also got forward into attacking positions.
Charlton created the first goal three minutes in as he beat the right back and whipped his cross in. Curtis Thomas looked like he was going to score but hit an air shot which Liam Williams was thankful of as it fell to his feet and he buried his shot. The second goal came ten minutes later as Aaron Anderson found Sam Hulme wide. Hulme picked out Liam Williams in the penalty area and he calmly slotted home for his second of the game. A minute later it was three as Danny Charlton played Sam Hulme in wide. Charlton created space with his run forward and Hulme whipped a great curling cross in which bent away from the keeper towards the penalty spot for Curtis Thomas to head in on the bounce ahead of the defender.
It was 4-0 on eighteen minutes as Adam Rooke stepped out to intercept a ball from the back and play Danny Charlton out wide. Charlton fed Hulme who held the ball up just enough for Charlton to start his run in behind and then fed him in perfectly. Charlton sped away from the full back and dinked the ball over the advancing keeper.
Any attacks early on from Enville were cleared by Adam Rooke and Carl Thompson who won everything in the air and Anthony Short and Tyrone Borland were able to push on as well at times. Short done well following an early booking for kicking the ball away and was disciplined for the next 83 minutes against possibly their best player who was playing wide left.
Enville came back into it near the end of the first half and Lewis Cottrill had to make a few saves as they got in but it was 4-0 at half time.
Enville got one back an hour in as they managed to break through the defence. Cottrill made the save initially but the ball fell to the striker to slot home. This acted as a wake up and Smithswood started to be more positive.
Danny Charlton and Aaron Anderson were subbed and their full backs had a look of relief on their faces as they were both beaten. The only problem for them was that Dan Russell and Lee Sayer replaced them and continued to terrorise them. They actually had four left backs during the game as the Lions roared down the wings. It was 5-1 when Dan Russell picked the ball up and with his first touch crossed in for Liam Williams who completed is hat-trick.
Russell also won a penalty for the team which was calmly dispatched by Adam Rooke and Enville Athletic also got a late penalty following a foul in the box to end the game at 6-2.
That win makes it eight wins on the bounce for the team, a 100% record in October and top of the table.
Next week we travel to Perrywood as we look to keep the pressure on at the top before the County Cup game the week after.
