Amidst heavy rainfall Langwith saw off a struggling Wentworth 3rds. Langwith began as if they had a point to prove, putting in crunching tackles and rushing forward at every opportunity.
Captain Andy Hutt’s decision to move Luke Gardener to right midfield proved to be a shrewd call as he threatened twice early on. First, shooting just wide after beating his man before testing Dan Horsfall but his tame effort was easily dealt with.
Langwith were dominant and driven, playing precise, tidy football in the midfield and Hutt and his strike partner Tom Rudden were linking well. They took the lead when Matt Jones went on a mazy run around a few Wentworth defenders before feeding Kieran Hazell who slotted the ball past the keeper.
Their lead was doubled from the penalty spot, when a cross from the right was handled by a Wentworth player and the referee awarded the spot kick. It was emphatically finished by centre back Matt Wilcox, who planted the ball into the top left hand corner.
Wentworth worked very hard but just didn’t have the skill to compete in the midfield and Langwith broke up their play and distributed it smartly.
Tom Rudden, Langwith’s usual centre back had been pushed up front in another tactical decision and he almost scored a worldie when his curling shot from the wide left position met the crossbar.
They got their third after the break when Gardener finished after good work from Hutt and Rudden. Despite the margin Wentworth were beginning to come into the game a bit more and playing some nice football. Kris Cheshire who had had little to do in the Langwith goal was called into action when Matt Beacham’s effort was beaten away.
However, Langwith continued to rush forward and they had another when neat interplay from Hazell and Hutt led to a Gardener cross which was put in by Rudden. Gardener was prominent throughout and had the beating of Andrew Thompson and he hit the post with a speculative drive moments later.
But Wentworth would get reward for their pluck and industry when Bruce Starkey’s error in defence handed the ball straight to substitute Ant Woodhead and he put the ball past Cheshire. This goal was the first Wentworth’s first of the competition.
Determined to reclaim a four goal margin Langwith flocked up field hitting Wentworth on the break. Luke Gardener twice wasted two good chances to extend the lead, opting to shoot himself when a simple pass would have probably extended the lead.
They got their fifth when captain Hutt fired the ball in from the edge of the D, Horsfall should have done better, but Hutt played well and deserved a goal.
Wentworth could have doubled their match and cup goal tally when Thorben Bocklemann hit the post but it ended 5-1.
Wentworth captain Jon Cook took positives from the game, “I thought we were really good second half, got a great goal and came close to more on another day it could have been a much closer scoreline.”
Andy Hutt was also fairly pleased with his team’s performance: “Good performance and got the job done and that result will have helped our goal difference, thought we could have had a few more but we were sloppy in the second half.”
Vision MOTM: Luke Gardener