Woodbridge Town 9 Stow Town 'B'

Sunday 25th November 2007

OPEN CUP –FIRST ROUND Half-time: 5-0 Full-Time: 9-0 Scorers: Christie (5); Portaluri (2); Tripp; Hayward. Team: Emile Burgoyne; Ashley Archer; Khaled Abdel-Aziz; Ben Hopkins; Miles Kekwick; Harry Hayward; Sam Tripp; Matthew Read; Caspar Church; Laurence Portaluri; Jack Christie. Subs: Gus Cooney; Kieron Marshall; Ewan Wickson. The team put in another exceptional performance in very wet conditions to secure a very comfortable victory in the first round of the Open Cup. There must be something about playing in Stowmarket that inspires the team to produce some scintillating football, because again the boys were at times simply unplayable! With heavy rain forecast it was touch and go whether the game would be postponed, but it was decided to go ahead and although the pitch was slippy and in places quite heavy the boys listened to advice and at every opportunity made use of the firmer ground on the wings. However although the boys dominated the early exchanges in terms of territory and possession the final ball was lacking and it took a superb sliding tackle from Khaled Abdel-Aziz on his return to the side to dispossess the opposition striker as he was about to shoot to stop Stow Town taking the lead. This chance seemed to galvanise the boys and it was not long before they took control. Caspar Church and Miles Kekwick, who was having his best game of the season, were causing problems for the right flank of the Stow defence and when they linked with Laurence Portaluri, his cross was met by Jack Christie and his well placed shot gave the opposition keeper no chance. Jack quickly followed this with a second when he used his strength and pace to fashion a chance, which he coolly slotted home. Laurence then scored a sublime free-kick, curling his shot into the top corner, before he and Jack added goals 4 and 5 before half-time. This had been a dominant display in the rain and it was encouraging to see both full-backs, Ashley Archer and Miles Kekwick, getting forward by over-lapping the wide midfield players. Several changes were made just before half-time Gus Cooney replaced the injured Ashley Archer at right-back, while Matthew Read was replaced by Kieron Marshall, who took up his customary position on the right of midfield, which allowed us to push Harry Hayward upfront and drop Laurence into the centre of midfield where his passing ability can be used to its full. These changes did nothing to disrupt the play and Jack, who had an exceptional game, added his fourth soon after the restart and this was followed by the seventh of the game when Sam Tripp scored with a low shot from the edge of the area. Kieron was also unlucky to see his first time effort go wide of the far post after some excellent work by Jack. Ewan Wickson replaced the impressive Miles Kekwick and he too began to get forward and from one of his runs the ball was fed to Caspar Church, whose cross was met by Jack Christie, who steered his header wide of the keeper and into the net for his fifth of the game. Harry Hayward then diverted Laurence Portaluri’s shot into the corner. Gus Cooney was also winning a great deal of ball with his usual brand of solid defending. On days like today the boys are unstoppable and one has to spare a thought for goalie Emile Burgoyne, who had one save to make late in the second half. Captain Ben Hopkins was as immaculate as ever and he and Khaled bossed the opposition strikers throughout the match and set up many of the moves that created the chances for others. The passing today was excellent, but so too was the pace at which the boys played in what was at time torrential rain. Thanks to the travelling fans, none of whom retreated to the cars and to Pete Archer, who had no choice, as he was the Assistant Ref!