Terling Villa put in arguably one of their best performances of the season to overcome Onley Arms in an entertaining 4-0 victory at Fairstead Road.
After a tightly contested opening ten minutes, Terling began to get the ball down in midfield and were creating openings at frequent intervals, with only the Onley Arms keeper, Jamie Ullmer, keeping Villa at bay pulling off a string of fine saves. Villa also hit the woodwork on two occasions, with Tristan Woolfenden first heading (yes, you read that right) against the bar after a finger tip save from Ullmer, before lobbing the keeper 5 minutes later only for the ball to rebound off the upright to safety.
Terling finally got their deserved lead in the 41st minute. A sublime piece of control and skill from Allistion before lobbing the onrushing keeper to give Terling the lead much to the delight of the crowd who had braved the cold weather to witness the game.
Two minutes later the lead was doubled, Alliston slotting the ball through for Woolfenden who cooly slotted past the keeper to give Terling a 2-0 half time lead.
The second half was all one way traffic in what has to be the most dominant 45 minutes of football played by Villa this season. Excellent passing across the back line, conbined with some fine midfield link up and intricate wing play lead to a host of chances being created throughout the half, and on 50 minutes, the pressure was made to tell, with Tristan Woolfenden beating the last defender, rounding the keeper before presenting Allistion with a tap in for his 16th league goal of the season.
Woolfenden then doubled his tally for the game, scoring his 20th league goal of the campaign in the 66th minute, curling the ball into the far corner past the despairing Onley keeper.
The final stages of the game were more of a training exercise for Villa, retaining posession for large spells without being threatened by the opposition at all.
In added time, the only incident to marr a fine victory was the controversial sending off of Peter Looseley, deemed the last man for denying a goalscoring opportunity, however from the MOTD replays it is clear that Frazer Gardiner was alongside him. It is unknown yet whether Villa will look to launch an appeal.
After the match, Manager, Chairman, Secretary, Groundsman, and Treasurer, Tristan Woolfenden, had this to say "it was a fine performance from all of the lads, I can't fault any of them. We've worked a lot in training on clearing our lines at the back, and retaining possession of the ball in the middle of the park, and for 90 minutes today we did both of those. Another clean sheet is certainly pleasing, I just hope our skipper Rik Cridland has a decent sized bank balance after he promised a round of drinks at the end of season do for every clean sheet kept during the season". Cridland was unavaiable to comment after the game due to an urgent meeting with the bank manager.
Stalwort, Darren Douglas, had this to say following his 28th minute substitution with illness "man has a cold innit. I forgot my kleenex and my nose was just streemin propa! I couldnt carry on like it so I come off and sat on da side with my hot water bottle and my tissues like".
Keeper Gavin Woolfenden also added "what a boring game. Don't think I even touched the ball? This team are so greedy, I don't know why they don't ever pass to me! Ohh well, it's a clean sheet, i'm going to have to get on to my agent to sort out an increased clean sheet bonus for next season".
Villa are without a game this weekend due to an Internation Break, however resume action on 24th March away to divisional rivals Valley Green in the 4th round of the Malcolm Foy Trophy.
