Result – Lodge Farm 0 – Wanderers 11;

So after another few weeks off due to the weather we were back in action today away to Lodge Farm at the Bentley Pavilion. After 2 good results so far in 2016 we were keen to continue our run, plus put right the disappointing result we had against Lodge Farm in the home game earlier this season. We had a good/strong squad of 13 today and it also saw Callum Philips return to his former club for the first time since joining us.

Match Report –
So another couple of frustrating weeks without a game, but the team have been training hard and looking forward to getting back into action. After 2 good performances in our last 2 games we went into the match in confident mood. We talked before the game of the importance of starting well and that we needed to put them under pressure from the beginning.
We were against a fairly strong wind in the first half, but we started the game just as we asked pushing Lodge Farm back deep into their half and created some earlier half chances in the first 5mins. Although the pitch was tight, we were finding some space don’t both flanks, in particular down our left, where Josh was causing problems for their right back. 10mins in and we were ahead, good work down our left saw Josh lay the ball back to Owen, who whipped in a first time swinging cross which was met by Jack who steered the ball into the bottom corner. 1-0! Within 5mins it was 2, again following some good work down our left the ball was crossed in, but eluded Jack in the centre and found Ethan following up to calmly slot home and make it 2 nil. We were now in complete control, and although we were still rushing some of the time we now looked threatening every time we went forward. Our third goal came following a corner from the right, it fell to Callum who arrived in the box to drive in and make it 3. Just before half-time saw us grab our 4th, a couple of changes meant Josh was playing more centrally and Alfie and Liam had come on to play down both wings. Alfie had created a couple of half chances since coming on, and then produced a great cross which wasn’t cleared properly by Lodge Farm and came to Josh who had his back to goal, with a couple of defenders pressing Josh calmly lobbed the ball back over his head and into the top corner! Great goal – 4-0!!
So after a great first half, we talked at half-time about keeping the ball a little better as we were still rushing some of the first time balls and needed to relax a little and look for the right pass.
The second half started as the first, with us pushing forward looking for some more goals. Within 10mins of the re-start it was 5, some nice football down our right found Callum who raced into the box and hit a first time shot past the Farm keeper to score his second against his old club, 5-0. We were now looking dangerous on every break, and 3 more goals followed in quick succession. The first saw Jack who was down playing back down the middle, latch onto a through ball and neatly finish into the bottom corner, 6-0. The next was a long clearance (ok and assist!) from Tom in goal, it found Jack who used his strength to barge past 2 defenders and slot home again to grab his hat-trick and make it 7. Our 8th was again scored by Jack who followed up a long range shot from Lewis, which was spilled by the Farm keeper and then tapped in by Jack. 8-0! We were now pretty rampant and looked like scoring when ever we attacked, at half-time we talked of taking some more long range shots and our 9th was exactly that!! Owen picked the ball on the right 5 yards outside the Farm box, he looked up and cracked a terrific left foot shot high into the top left hand corner! Fantastic goal! 9-0!
Our 10th followed soon after and was just as good, an in swinging corner from the right by Owen was flicked on and fell to Alfie 12 yards out, who smashed a first time volley in to make it double figures.
We had been solid at the back all game and in the final 10mins saw Lodge Farm create their only real chance, a long free kick fell to their striker in the box, but he couldn’t keep his shot down and lifted it high over the bar.
We had seen some great goals so far, but our final one was just as special! 🙂 After asking Joe and I if he could go up front for 10mins (we said no several times) our captain and centre-back Phoenix, picked up the ball deep in our half and stormed down the right wing, first skipping past a couple of players and then playing a couple of one-twos which allowed him to break into their box and then toe poke the ball home after a 50 yard rampage!!! 🙂 Cracking goal and great way to finish the game! 11-0.

Great performance from all the lads today. We used the full squad, rotating our subs several times and so a good all round performance from all of the squad. Lots of positives to take from the game, we managed to hit double figures for the first time, we scored some great individual and team goals and we managed to keep a 3rd clean sheet in a row and means we still haven’t conceded in 2016.

As always picking “Man of the Match” is never easy. We had some great performances today, with fantastic goals from Owen, Alfie, Josh, Ethan, 2 from Callum and of course not forgetting Phoe’s, but today for his usual fantastic all round performance, plus 4 goals the “MoM” goes to Jack Chard. Well done Jack, great performance.

Well done to all the lads, we are definitely seeing the hard work you are putting in training starting to pay off! We march on in 2016, 3 games – 25 goals for, 0 against! Let’s keep it going for next weeks cup game against the Tigers. As always lets train hard and look forward to next Sunday.

Joe, Jason, Ronan and Reece.