After a good win last week, St Francis fielded a strong and confident side. From the off they dominated play with good communication and accurate passing. Early in the first half St Francis won a penalty Joe being fouled in the box by a St Mary’s defender. Josh was elected to take the spot kick and casually put in past the keeper. This opened the floodgates seeing Kio hitting the cross bar and goal post in rapid succession. A bad challenge on Steven saw him subbed early on, and St Marys receive a yellow card. Bradley Collins hit the ball and clipped the post leaving the rebound for a Ben tap in. By now St Francis were on a roll winning a corner, took by Bradley Collin which landed the ball right in the centre of the St Marys box with eight out of the eleven St Francis players all trying to net the ball, but it fell to Josh who scored his second of the game. Midfield took control of the game, and started raining accurate passes around the St Mary’s half with some skilful moves being made by Bradley Collins and Lewis. Another foul in the St Marys box sees Ben get his second of the game from a spot kick. A spirited St Marys battled on winning a free kick after 25 minutes of the 1st half but the St Francis defence was impregnable easily dealing with anything that came their way. Close to the end on the first half saw Lewis Riley thunder the ball over the cross bar from a Josh Thompson throw in. Just before the whistle Ben Willetts takes a rest seeing Michael Armstrong come off the bench to score from a fine corner from Bradley Collins. St Marys kicked off but St Francis were hungry for more goals and sure enough they came, with Micky collecting an excellent pass and thundering it past the keeper. Second half sees a change in keeper for St Marys and Tom came off the bench for St Francis putting his influence to good use on the right wing. Early in the 2nd half sees Joe, Michael, Lewis, Kyle and Kio all coming close on numerous occasions to scoring. Kyle Wright had a fantastic shot from the edge of the box but the keeper saved it. Brad Betts came on to bolster the attack with some solid tackles and also nearly converting yet another one of St. Francis moves. Then Joe, collecting a pass from defender Grant, who skilfully passed several defenders, hit the back of the net yet again. Steven came back on with 15 minutes to go and wasting no time scored two goals in quick succession. By now the St Francis Goal tally was 10. Meanwhile back in the St Francis goalmouth Cam kept a clean sheet saving the few attempts made by St Marys with ease. Special mentions to David, Byron, Grant and Josh who were solid in defence. Man of the Match was a close thing with many contenders but with great attitude, a goal and great work it was Joe.
Well done to all.
Report wrote by Paul Thompson
