Despite being reduced to 10 men after only 19 minutes, Woodbridge Town put on a terrific display of passing & attacking football to beat Hadleigh Reserves 5-3 at Notcutts Park on Saturday.

From the opening moments Woodbridge passed the ball to good effect, although there was nothing in the way of clear chances, while Hadleigh could have taken the lead on two occasions through direct play, which led to goal-scoring opportunities.

Ismael Toumi, returning from injury went close to giving Woodbridge the lead when he went just wide following a short corner routine, but he blotted his copybook moments later when he reacted to being held back, tripped up & dragged to the ground by raising his hands to the face of his aggressor & was promptly given his marching orders.

Rather than change the midfielders or attacking players who had started so well, Woodbridge played with 3 at the back & were able to dominate he remainder of the half.
It was a ‘soft’ penalty award that allowed Woodbridge to go ahead when SEAN REA was supposedly fouled before squeezing his penalty beyond the keeper, but Jack Severy & Craig Jennings could both have increased the lead before Hadleigh briefly levelled with a well-worked goal, created down the left wing & cleverly finished with a near post flick. 

A quickly taken free-kick saw Woodbridge go back in front before half-time when Ted Nichols & Severy combined for Danny Tatum to slip the perfect ball into the path of CRAIG JENNINGS to fire past the keeper all within 5 seconds of play while Hadleigh switched off.

Woodbridge, despite their man disadvantage, took complete control of the game in t opening minutes of the 2nd half when firstly Severy switched the ball the width of the pitch to David Kempson, who in turn played the ball into the path of SEAN REA’s ‘lung-busting’ run & he produced a dipping volley over the keeper from the edge of the penalty area. Almost immediately, James Baalham produced a fantastic through ball for CRAIG JENNINGS, who in typical fashion raced away from the defenders before beating the keeper at his near post. 

There were many other chances to increase the lead with Jennings & Severy missing gilt-edged chances, but it was Hadleigh who, out of nothing, came up with their own 2 goal burst as they beat the offside trap & then scored from a corner within minutes of each other to set up a potentially frantic 10 minutes for a tiring Woodbridge team. 

However, JACK SEVERY settled everybody back down again when he dispossessed the last defender & rounded the keeper before planting the ball into the net for the 5th & clinching goal.