Wokingham Wanderers F.C.

Wanderers 9 Sunninghill Jaguars 3

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14th November 2004 - Division 3 - Langborough Rec, Wokingham

Boosted by excellent victories over Rides United and Woodley Hammers in their last two matches, Wanderers were confident ahead of their clash with lowly Sunninghill Jaguars.

As expected, Wanderers put their opponents under early pressure with chances falling to strikers Paul Martin and Tom Soane, but with fifteen minutes played it was still goalless.

 

Wokingham weren't playing to their full potential and received a surprise wake-up call in the shape of a Sunninghill goal.  Andy Corless and Dan van der Laan O'Donnell were left outnumbered at the back, and Allan Mellor stood no chance as Sunninghill's free man slotted the ball past him.

 

Wanderers produced an instant reply, as Griffths found Tom Soane who blasted the ball into the corner of the net from the edge of the penalty area.

 

Five minutes later and the Blues were in front as Anthony Prior whipped a free-kick in from the left-hand side of the box and over the Sunninghill 'keeper and into the goal.

 

Shortly afterwards, Wanderers were 3-1 up courtesy of Soane's second.  Andy Corless floated a ball to the edge of the box and Scott Ford headed down for Soane to volley into the corner of the net.

 

Soane then turned provider as he beat a man on the right wing, before hitting a low cross for Prior to turn the ball into the Sunninghill net.

 

With seconds remaining of the first half Wanderers conceded a second goal.  Corless appeared to win the ball with a challenge on the corner of the penalty area, but the referee disagreed and the subsequent free-kick looped over Mellor and into the net.

 

Into the second half and Wanderers made the perfect start to regain their three goal lead.  Chris Hillsdon made a positive run down the right and found Martin, whose cross was diverted into the net by a Sunninghill defender.

 

Ten minutes later and Wanderers had opened up a 6-2 lead as Martin collected his first of the game.  A clearance found Martin from the halfway line who played a neat one-two with Prior before calmly slotting home.

 

Sunninghill scored their third goal of the game as a speculative shot from distance eluded Mellor, who had misjudged the swerve on the strike.

 

In the last fifteen minutes Wanderers hit three more goals to reflect their domination of this encounter.  Martin scored two goals to complete his hat-trick, showing a cool head on both occasions to beat the 'keeper.

 

Then Tom Soane scored his third as a succession of passes saw substitute Jamie Ryall play the ball back into Soane's path to tap home.

 

At the other end Sunninghill almost grabbed another goal as the ball slipped away from Mellor's grasp, but Dan van der Laan O'Donnell made a superb goal-line clearance with his chest.

 

The Blues had done what they needed to do, at times it wasn't as easy as the league table had suggested but the margin of victory reflects Wanderers' improvement this season.

 

TEAM: Allan Mellor, Chris Hillsdon, Dan van der Laan O'Donnell, Andy Corless, Chris Orbell, Ian Griffiths, Scott Ford, Clint Falcus, Anthony Prior, Tom Soane, Paul Martin.

SUBS: Tom Mansfield (for Falcus), Jamie Ryall (for Prior) and Lewis Trusty (for Ford).