In a very one sided contest, James 2nds dominated from start to finish against a struggling Alcuin side. It was a well-rounded performance with two goals coming via set piece and three through impressive open play.
The first chance came when Freddie Ferrao showed lightning quick feet, dancing through two Alcuin players in the middle but his tame shot was saved by Thurloway. Ferrao was again involved in the next chance, his cross was scooped over the crossbar by James Briars. Two minutes later James thought they were ahead but Jack Fisher was adjudged to have been offside.
James continued to rush forward and their interplay in the midfield was neat and tidy. Briars was slipped in behind the back four but Thurloway’s reaction stop just inside the box kept it scoreless. The pressure that James was applying finally told when Captain Yates’s fine right hand corner was met perfectly by Josh Spurling.
Despite just losing a goal Alcuin had their best spell of the game immediately after. Ben Bugeja’s inswinging corner had to be palmed over by James keeper Paul Charnock. The resulting corner again caused trouble with a bit of ping pong in the box but it was cleared.
James, determined not to let Alcuin be heartened by this went straight down the other end and scored. James Briars played Ferrao in and he made no mistake with the finish. There were roars from the watching supporters but the referee ruled it good.
James threatened once more with Fisher heading against the post when Thurloway deflected the ball straight to him.
The second half was consistent with the first half; James continued to press and it didn’t take them long to grab a third. Spurling curled a shot into the top corner from the edge of the area, it took a slight deflection but keeper Thurloway probably should have done better.
James weren’t going to settle with just a three goal margin and they continued to rush forward in droves. Freddie Ferrao tantalised the defence all game with his quick feet and close ball control and he went past defenders with ease.
He scored his second when played in by Spurling he cooly slotted the ball home. Spurling was the main man in this impressive display with barnstorming play all round, hard in the tackle in midfield, playing smart passes and rounding it off with goals.
His hat-trick was completed with a carbon copy of his first, Yates swinging the ball in and his header was perfect. The scoreline was limited to 5-0 by some impressive stops by Thurloway in nets, but James will perhaps feel aggrieved that they didn’t score more.
After the game Alcuin captain Jon Carney said: “I’m really disappointed, we didn’t win the ball well enough in midfield, they played it around our defence, we had a few chances but it was probably our worst performance so far.”
Andrew Yates, captain of James 2nds said: “It was a really good result, we’ve struggled to get the ball on the ground in past two weeks but we played some proper football today. We started really well and just really pleased to have qualified now with a game in hand.”
Vision MOTM: Josh Spurling