Zion FC comfortably defeated Rubber Chicken's in an efficient display that saw them cruise to a 4-0 victory. A Tommy Powell hat-trick, and a goal by David Jones grabbed the four goals while Ben Short was in fine form as Steve Winter kept a clean sheet.
The game was anything but pretty in the opening stages as the niggly Rubber Chicken's attempted to stiffle Zion's attacking play. Their goalkeeper escaped punishment for a mis-timed two-footed lunge on Tommy Powell. The rough treatment combined with some scrappy Zion passing and an inability to keep sustained periods of possession meant Zion didn't really get out of first gear for some time. The deadlock was broken and with that the game opened up. Tommy Powell latched onto David Jones' pass and tucked the ball home after rounding the keeper. Within seconds Powell doubled his tally robbing a hesitant defender and passing the ball into the corner of the net. The Chicken's were forced to try and get back and the game, and became increasingly open at the back. Zion didn't. Ben Short in particular was not in a generous mood. He made several great tackles and interterceptions to frustrate his opposing strikers. Steve Winter was also on good form, making several saves, none of which seemed to test the veteran stopper to his limit, but Winter's concentration was applaudable. 2-0 at half time, and the job was nearly done.
The second half saw the game open up further with Zion creating a host of chances as the Chicken's defence had more holes in it. Their keeper was forced to save them from an humiliating scoreline on several occasions making fantastic saves to keep the score relatively low. Powell grabbed his hat-trick again latching onto David Jones' pass after neat build up play. His finish was emphatic and the hat-trick well deserved. Ben Short was then lucky not to be punished for a sliding challenge on a Chicken's player. Adam the loanee was in good form, breaking up play and sprinting forward in support. He saw several chances saved or narrowly missed the target, as did Powell and Jones. It was the latter that finished the scoring right at the death however, showing good composure to finish after good work from Adam. 4-0, job done.
The Referee made history by hosting a post match press conference for the first time in the league as he refreshingly explained his controversial decisions and then praised the sides for the match. Martin; "Those Zion boys really know how to play, they were missing that big guy at the back, but really didn't look like they needed him they were that solid. There were two decisions that I made that perhaps were contencious, the Rubber Chickens goalkeeper came out and lunged at the Zion striker in the first minute and I felt that it would ruin the game as a spectacle had I sent him off, and then there was a bad tackle from the Zion defender and having not sent the Chickens keeper off I thought it would be inconsistent to send him off so I kind of gave them one each." Tommy Powell chose to talk about the clean sheet instead of the refereeing performance when he spoke with the camera's, "The clean sheet was fantastic. We were solid defensively and despite not playing at our best we got the goals we required and that is pleasing. Ben Short was on top form tonight really protecting Steve in the goals." Ben Short was set to speak to reporters but it turned out he left the ground early to down his man of the match champagne. Hopefully he won't be still recovering when Tommy Powell selects his side to face Deer Park Rangers next week.
