It was good to see us start with a sharp tempo and a good edge to our play. In the 5th minute we were awarded a freekick for the second of two niggly fouls on Dazza. Chippy's crisp freekick was well controlled on the turn by Josh who fired us into an early lead. We pretty much dominated the first half hour but a combination of poor top end decisions, good defending and good 'keeping meant we couldn't add another. In the 10th Ryan played Kyle in but the 'keeper saved at his feet. In the 18th Josh worked an opening for Ollie but he blazed his shot across the goal. In the 27th Kyle ran clear, an easy cross to Jack ended up in the 'keepers hands at his near post and 3 minutes later the same happened on the other side, Bowles got in on the wasteful act a minute later with a wild attempt over the bar bringing a good period of possession to a tame end. Kyle was switched wide right for Olli and the result was instant as Kyle took a quick throw to Josh, his cross saw Jack cushion a header to Ollie who converted with a controlled finish. Football at its very best. We were well on top and Dazza added our third in the 34th minute when he headed home Sam's curling freekick. We weren't content with the scoreline and won possession immediately from their kick off but Olli scuffed his shot wide of the post. A minute before half time a sweeping move ended when Josh drove a lovely crossfield ball to Olli who was really unlucky to see a very good attempt denied by the foot of the post.
Half time and so far so good. Glen was quick and cool in goal, Chippy was in commanding form, Dazza was back to his very best, tackling and distributing with real purpose, Sam and Josh were classy and clever and Ollie and Jack were very bright.
The only thing that mattered was the result and with no real pressure on us we were never likely to go chasing a big scoreline although we did stretch our lead to 5-0 by the 80th minute before allowing them two late consolation goals. In the 55th Sam made way for Simmo and Neil for Mark. Simmo finally got on his toes and slotted home from close range after Bowles had played in Ollie and Ollie took the best option of a low early cross - simple, smart effective football for 4-0. Apart from wild swipe desiese Mark did very well when he came on, his high work rate took some pressure off Josh in the middle of the park and he put in some hard recovery tackles as the game became stretched. Chippy marked his "fulltime" return with a bullet header for 5-0, a textbook headed conversion of Ollie's textbook driven corner. Lee came on for the last 15/20 to avoid Bowles becoming victim of a bizarre decision - the impact of a second yellow would have been hard to swallow - and to ensure we have qualifying players for the final stages of the season.
We'll ignore conceding the two soft consolation goals and some occassional dips in performance but concentrate instead on a good all round team performance with enough players running into form to suggest we can deliver again at the business end of the season. Well done
