First Half:
Guru Hargobind had an early spell of pressure where the home side had failed to wake up, which resulted in last ditch tackles and a goal line clearance from Conor Boud, an early let off for NRAFC despite the onslaught of set pieces which are usually dealt with poorly in our last few matches. But the deadlock was broken on the first attempt for the home side, as Serkan Ozdemir floated in a dream cross for Oliver Brown, who followed up the initial attempt to put it in the net.
Despite being one nil up, the home side still struggled to adjust to the pace of the game, and Guru attacked once more with glimpses of breaking through. However, this lead to another attack, with Scott Perrott providing an unorthodox corner, rolling low but going in. The defender on the line attempted a clearance, only for it to fall to centre back Reece 'Duff' Churcher, who turned into a natural born finisher for 5 seconds, unleashing a strike which bulleted into the roof of the net to extend the lead.
This is where the home side finally picked up the tempo, and created chances, until a sublime through ball from Serkan Ozdemir found Conor Boud through with his surging pace to beat the defender to the ball. He shimmied past the last defender, only to hit a feeble attempt towards goal, which the keeper parried into the path of Oliver Brown who poked it in for his second.
The away side had strength in their wingers who had bundles of pace, but the discipline of Callum Stapely and Matthew Brittle at wingback positions kept them quiet, dealing with the majority of attacking attempts.
Second Half:
Decisions were put forward by the management but the side remained the same as it ended the first half. The home side started as they meant to go on, and put the away side 'under the kosh'. Soon after, a free kick was uted with excellence from Scott Perrott to get it over and around the wall and past a helpless goalkeeper. This was beginning to look like a cricket score.
The away side looked hopeless in getting back in the game, and even more so with changes being made to bring Kurtis Dillon, Sma Risby, and Michael Barnshaw into the mix to provide some fresh legs to peg back the opposition. Oliver Brown took a first attempt with the keeper beating it away, but moments later the ball was chipped through to Benjamin Lovell who played an exquisite defence splitting ball to Oliver Brown who had the easy job of rolling the ball into the next for his hat trick.
The game went on and the away side were clearly frustrated early, lashing out with reckless challenges as well as looking sluggish on all thirds of the pitch. A cross to the box eventually found newcomer Nathan Cross, who headed it firmly past the keeper to complete the rout.
The away side nearly sealed a consolation goal, but the ever impressive Grant Tugwell, who was injured in the build up to the aforementioned pressure, produced a world class save from a powerful header to tip it onto the bar.
Full time whistle, and there were so many positives to take away from the game; the clean sheet, the strong attacking display, and the attitude from the squad who seem to be adjusting to the 4-2-3-1 formation fantastically. NRAFC may have just found their set up! Onto the next game in the Kent Sunday Junior Cup vs Crayford Athletic Reserves, where we hope to keep up our run of games.
