Boro responded in the perfect manner to going out of the Surrey Cup by comfortably beating Grunwald Reserves. With Boro having the bare 11 for the first time all season Steve Butt opted for a 4-5-1 with Henry Kousso as the front man and it didn’t take long to work as a superb through ball by Butt was gobbled up by Kousso who raced towards goal to slide Boro in front. Kousso should have had 2 more before half time as he was clear from Neil Hall’s through ball but the goalkeeper made a superb save tipping it out for a corner via the post. Boro were doing all the pressing but just could not add the vital second goal which evaded them again in last kick of the first half when Kousso again skipped through only to broadcast his intended finish which the goalkeeper read and turned behind.
The second half began superbly for Boro as the 5-man midfield with Illingworth doing the holding role had given Butt & Chandler the licence to bomb forward and it finally paid off when Chandler surged through to tuck away a one-on-one. Within minutes it was 3-0 as an exquisite diagonal pass from Herron released James Andy and his placed cross was slotted home by Chandler. Out of nowhere Grunwald had a 10 minute spell of pressure where Boro stood strong with some excellent mopping up by the formidable Herron, Rugg & man of the match Ben Baker. The goal of the game came with around 20 minutes left as some more clever wing play from Oldershaw resulted in linking up with Kousso and he fed Butt on the edge of the area to turn and smash the ball in the bottom corner.
The final goal came soon after as a long Rugg free-kick was flicked on by Butt to put Chandler through on goal but the keeper parried to deny Chandler his hat trick only for Andy to tuck away the rebound from a tricky angle. Boro should have made it 6 in the dying stages as Kousso’s busy performance saw him again bearing down on goal and a cheeky chip over the keeper came back off the bar and as Chandler went in for the rebound Grunwald smuggled it away. Overall this was a superb performance from Boro who have two successive games against Plough at Beddington Park in League & League Cup which will both be crucial in our pursuit for the double.
Results from today:
Ironside 4-7 Rosehill Atheltic
South West United 3-5 AFC Links Reserves
Woolpack 3-1 Plough Beddington
