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Photos: Adam Green
An early Alex Brown header and two super second half strikes, saw Alcuin 1sts to a 3-0 victory over Goodricke 3rds. Goodricke, who performed admirably throughout can perhaps feel slightly aggrieved by the final scoreline, but over the course of the game Alcuin’s added quality told.
Alcuin enjoyed a perfect start, when within five minutes, Joe Smith made a jinking run down the left beating two players, before crossing for the byline. His pinpoint cross found the head of Brown, who made no mistake from five yards out, heading past Noel Rogers to give Alcuin an early lead.
They were unable to increase their advantage during the first half, as Goodricke defended willingly, restricting Alcuin to largely long range attempts. Alcuin passed the ball around nicely, dominating possession, with Graham Kimber and Paul Desoisa impressing. Goodricke captain Harry Shaw was leading by example at the back, and he made an outstanding challenge to stop a surging run by Kimber.
Alcuin were dangerous from set pieces throughout. In the opening minutes Chris Boyd had flashed a Greg Fearn corner wide, and Josh Allen and Alex Brown also threatened. Goodricke hadn’t created much in the first half, but had battled hard, and as the half time whistle went with the score at 1-0 they were certainly in the game.
That showed, when shortly after the break they almost equalised. A surging run down the left wing was followed by an excellent cutback, and Goodricke looked destined to score, only for ‘keeper David Marshall to pull out an outstanding block.
At the other end, Allen glanced a Will Taylor cross narrowly wide, but in truth the first three quarters of the game had been relatively scrappy, with clear chances few and far between. Then out of nowhere, Kimber came up with a moment of brilliance, turning neatly before curling a left footed effort into the corner, to double Alcuin’s lead.
The Alcuin fans had barely finished celebrating, when they added a third. This time Taylor cut in from the left, before firing a rasping drive past Rogers. All the hard work of the Goodricke defence had been undone by two stunning Alcuin strikes in a minute.
Credit to Goodricke though they continued to battle, and finished the game strongly, pushing for a consolation goal. Ben Watkins almost grabbed one, as having beaten the last defender, he shot powerfully, only to be denied by an acrobatic save from Marshall. The ‘keeper had only been called upon twice, but both times he pulled out exceptional saves.
Alcuin Captain Bradley Wood, who along with Boyd was a rock in the centre of defence, commented: “It was a better performance in the second half, we scored two great goals and kept a clean sheet. It gives us confidence going into our crucial game against Vanburgh 2nds next week”.
Harry Shaw was pleased with his side’s display despite the defeat, saying: “It was 1-0 for the majority of the game. We were undone by two super goals, but i’m proud of everyone, the lads put in a great shift.”
Vision MOTM: Graham Kimber