Date

We expected this match to be a copy of the previous meeting , where St Vallier defended stoutly for the first 40 minutes before our superior passing stretched them and lead to three late goals . We picked a team with that in mind , leaving some of our quicker players on the bench , but as it transpired we played some great football throughout and ran out comfortable winners. 

We started with our familiar 3-5-2 formation , and the balance in the midfield was far better than last week with James P and Matt N on either side of Andy Webb .Right from the start we tackled and competed very well in midfield and our passing was very good . We used both flanks despite the pitch sloping down to one side and had a number of promising attacks before taking the lead . A well hit shot from a freekick by James Page could only be parried up into the air by the goalie and Matt Newbery reacted quickest to nod the ball in. Shortly afterwards  Matt scored a brilliant second , cutting inside the defender in a crowded box and angling a great shot into the far corner .

At the back Matt Joe A and Arran coped fairly easily with the sporadic attacks and gave Sam quite an easy time in goal .

Our third goal came when Liam scored his now customary poachers goal from close range after some sustained pressure around the St Vallier box . It was a bit disappointing to concede a goal that was largely against the run of play , but a breakaway down the centre was converted well by the opposing forward . Play was controversially brought back for a freekick to St Vallier , but justice was done when the freekick went in anyway .

Halftime came with a comfortable 3-1 lead , and we made three substitutions , bringing on Scott , Joe T and Peter . All three made good contributions to a comfortable second half , with Scott in particular doing really well and Peter scoring a lovely goal .

In the second half we continued to play some good football , passing out from the back and were improved up front by Peters excellent movement and running . It was Peter who scored our forth goal , timing his run to break through the inside left channel and score with a brilliant chip over the keeper . Further goals from Matt Newbery for a well deserved hattrick and Liam for his second put the gloss onto an excellent team performance .

Again we let in a sloppy goal just before full time , allowing a corner to bounce in our penalty area and failing to clear , but overall the victory was a comfortable one .

Player Performances

Sam Vankuylenburg – kept goal well and kicked well from both hand and ground . Found concentration difficult as we dominated .

Arran Moran – another excellent game full of the usual mix of tackling and dribbling .

Matt Baker – did really well defensively and contributed well when moved to the right side of midfield .

Joe Alemzadeh – chased back well when required , got forward to good effect and linked well with left midfield .

Scott Crane – did really well when he came on . Never panicked on the ball and passed his way out of trouble several times . Good to see .

Matt Newbery – brilliant midfield display rewarded by a superb hattrick . All goals were taken really well , especially the second . Covered back as well when required

James Page – passed the ball well . Showed more energy than recently and got up and down the pitch better .

Sean Fahey –  better energy levels than recently . Good display of determined running and skilful dribbling .

Andy Webb – performed his usual holding tackling and distributing role with his usual efficiency .

Liam Vincent – goal poacher extrordinaire – his happy knack of getting onto the end of things continued with two good goals . Held the ball up well and caused problems throughout with his close control and determination

James Winward – Usual mixture of good skills and strong running . Final decision making needs a bit of tweaking but played well .

Peter O’Brien -  did really well when brought on up front in the second half – intelligent running , good passing and a superb chipped goal

Joe Thwaites – ran well and got some good balls into the box . Linked well with Peter on the left .

Josh Seymour – ran strongly and chased back well – good understanding with Joe A