Villa bounced back in style following the previous weeks second half slip up with a resounding beating of Old Bramstonians.
Manager Purser introduced an untried 3-2-3-2 formation using his knowledge of the opposition having faced them on numerous occasions over the past 5 seasons, with the intention of stopping Bramstonians passing game in the midfield area. The change of tactic worked to perfection as the men in Orange excelled in every department leaving their opponents little sight of Gavin Woolfendens goal. A special mention to Chris Collins and Dave Cornwell who soaked up everything in the defensive holding roles in front of the back 3 of Pike, Colley and the returning Douglas, with Cornwell also playing a huge part in the opening goal.
Thwarting a Bramstonian attack for what would be repeated numerous times during the match he released Cracknell on 18 minutes with a fine pass that found the Villa man inside the area. Turning his man the Villa nos 11 hit his shot into the ground but with enough power that Daniel Jarvis in the home goal could only palm back into the danger area. Unfortunately for the Bramstonian stopper Tris Woolfenden was on hand to sweep the ball back past him and into the net.
Villa could and perhaps should have gone further ahead shortly after when first Cracknell shot over when well-placed. This following a fine team move with Woolfenden heavily involved after holding the ball up and away from Bramstonians solid central defender Matthams. Woolfenden himself had a guilt edged chance before half time when after racing clear of the Bramstonians back line he trod on the ball as he was about to shoot with the ball running away to safety.
With the previous weeks second half performance still fresh in the minds the half time team talk was clear that the performance level should not drop. It didn’t, it got much better !
Only 10 minutes in and Villa had doubled the lead. Gavin Taylor did superbly well beating his man in the middle of the park (his claims that he beat 3 men were laughed at by his team mates) although he did manage to find Woolfenden who re-enacted his earlier pass of the first half releasing Cracknell through on goal. With a little more time this time around he composed himself before sliding the ball under Jarvis and into the empty net from 10 yards out.
With a little more breathing space in the scoreline 3 substitutions were made, including Gardiner replacing the excellent Cornwell through injury around the 60-65 minute mark and Ellis replacing Webb and within 5 minutes it was 3-0 through the best goal of the game.
The strike partnership of Cracknell and Woolfenden were now causing problems all of the time when the ball was played up to them with excellent running and work rate creating space. It was these two who combined again with the newly introduced Luke Ellis also playing his part. Cracknell held up the ball well before playing into Ellis' feet out on the right. The diminutive Ellis found a path into Woolfendens feet on the right hand edge of the penalty area and although there looked to be little danger Woolfenden spun superbly away from his marker with a great first touch. His second being even better with a rifled right footer giving Jarvis no chance and clutching thin air as the ball shot past his outstretched right hand and into the net.
With Scott Collins suffering a dead leg he was replaced by Agar-Hutton on 74 minutes with the manager reverting back to a more familiar 4-4-2 before another substitute got in on the goal scoring act, assisted by another Collins, brother Chris.
An excellent in swinging corner from Collins caused havoc in the Bramstonians area and with the home side failing to clear their lines Fraser Gardiner who swinging his legs like a TILLA GIRL performing the CAN-CAN rather than a TERLING GUY finally connected with the loose ball at the eighth attempt. After finally perfecting his impression of the famous French Dance he smashed the ball into the top corner from a scintillating 2 yards.
With a few more half chances being created even Peppa Pig himself fancied a foray forward joining Cracknell and Woolfenden in a 3 pronged attack in the final minute. Choosing to pass to Woolfenden in an attempt to set up a hat-trick goal rather than shoot himself it just went to prove that love was truly all around on this Sunday morning, and not just the messages of love on his boots !!
