Alcuin 1sts 5-0 Wentworth 3rds

A match that on paper suggested a one sided whitewash did not fail to live up to its billing, Alcuin firing 5 past a defensive Wentworth team which seemed to expect to be beaten.

Only in the second minute however, an Ant Woodhead dipping volley which cannoned of the crossbar indicnated a Wentworth team trying to defy all odds. Indeed, for the first 10 minutes, the match was very even , Alcuin struggling to get into the game with Wentworth sticking 9 men behind the ball at all times hoping to nick one on the breakaway. However, the deadlock was broken on 10 minutes, Paul Desoisa curling a lovely 25 yarder into the top right hand corner.

The goal and subsequent change in tempo of the game was a sign of the obvious difference in quality between the two sides rearing its head. A short while later, Graham Kimber netted the first of his brace, another 25 yarder smashed into the net off the crossbar. The postgrads could not stop the rot, and quickly a third was added to Alcuins tally, the only goal of the five that was not pleasing on the eye, a header from a corner rattling off the crossbar and back into the 6 yard box where a scramble eventually resulted in an own goal off one of the Wentworth defender’s legs.

The score remained at 3-0 for the rest of the first half. Just before the whistle, Dan Horsfall fired a 30 yard free kick for Wentworth so far over the goal, indeed over the fence surrounding the JLD, that he himself had to join the loud laughter that was eminating from the sidelines. He nearly made amends a minute later, whipping a free kick from the byline into a dangerous area at the far post where Tom Doe stretched agonisingly but could not reach the ball as it went behind for a goal kick.

At half time, Wentworth’s manager James Lomas put two up front, throwing caution to the wind in the pursuit of a consolation. They again started the half well, forcing two corners out of the Alcuin defenders. Yet in a mirror image of the first half, Alcuin knocked the wind out of Wentworth’s sails, Alex Brown expertly firing low into the bottom right hand corner from the outside the box, leaving keeper Humberto stranded. Graham Kimber’s second goal soon made it 5, the fourth goal of the game from outside the penalty area, this time into the far left corner.

It felt like shooting practice for the majority of the second half, although a couple of bright runs by Wentworth sub Rick Falk down the left did brighten the Wentworth gloom. Right at the death, Alcuin substitute Alex Wright had a glorious chance to make it 6-0, somehow contriving to fire over from about a yard out after Humberto had spilled a cross from the right wing. The final whistle blew, a 5-0 scoreline justified despite Wentworth admirably giving as good as they had against better opposition.

James Lomas felt his Wentworth side actually played the better football in the first half, “more than matching them” but conceding that Alcuin’s quality made the difference saying “We can’t really complain at the result, to be honest”. Phil Bowers on the other hand saluted his side’s ability to win 5-0 “without getting out of second gear”.