The Saints ran out easy 7 – 0 winners against visiting Fownhope Reserves with both Johnny Daw and Ollie Cooke claiming hat tricks.
The Saints were playing against the strong wind in the first half but played some good football to race in to a 4 – 0 half time lead. The game could not have started better for the home side when within 3 minutes Daw had put them ahead when his “backpass” somehow eluded the keeper and the ball crept over the line. Another keeper error led to Hays second with Daw once again finding space and hitting a shot which the visiting keeper should have done better with.
At the other end keeper Ian Davies was in good form with his handling excellent from a number of corners. Other than this he had liitle to do as the away side gave away possession by being too direct and the ball running out of play.
Daw was showing his class up front and this was demonstrated when he put Cookie in for his first goal which he placed confidently past the keeper with his right foot. Daw then got the ball on the edge of the box on the left hand side dropped his shoulder and went inside the defender and finished well past the keeper right footed. HT 4 – 0
In the 2nd half the visitors played better with the ball now not running away from them in the strong wind. Once again though they didn’t really have any goal threat. The defence played well as a whole with Donk behind them in commanding form.
It was a goal kick by Davies that set up the next goal with the ball finding its way to Cookie who again finished well past the keeper with his right foot. Cookie went on to claim his hat trick with a penalty after Daw was hacked down in the penalty box by a frustrated Fownhope defender. The final goal of the game came from a Graeme Keeble free kick a yard inside the Fownhope half on the right handside. He hit it in with his left foot and the ball found its way in to the far corner without anyone getting a touch. Final score 7 – 0.
A good performance from the team as a whole again however, Daw showed his class in the first half when scoring and setting up Cookie for his first goal. I thought Ben Walsh had a good game on the right working very hard and showing determination on the ball on a number of occasions. The back four were solid all game with Al Howard impressing again and Keeble had another good game in the centre of midfield.Up front Cookie was full of running and deservedly got his 3 goals. It was also nice to see Ceri Ward come on as sub in the 2nd half and perform well in the centre of midfield after his long injury lay off. All round a very good team performance.
Team: Ian Davies, Al Howard, Chris Bounds,Stu Davies,Liam Pugh,Ben Walsh,Jamie Howard(Ceri Ward),Graeme Keeble,Tom Wilkes(Gareth Jenkins)(Jacko Thomas),Oliver Cooke, Johnny Daw.