3M 1 Wanderers 9

Wanderers bounced back from their disappointing defeat against BMW by producing one of their best ever performances in an emphatic victory over 3M.

With Andy Corless, Phil Soane and Ian Griffiths all unavailable, Chris Hillsdon, Darren Wakley and Jamie Ryall all started for the Blues.

In the opening minutes 3M struggled to get to grips with Wanderers, who passed the ball with confidence.  Ten minutes in Chris Orbell found Anthony Prior, who should have done better with an effort that drifted wide of the goal.

Five minutes later and Wanderers were celebrating the first goal.  Richard Scott collected a pass on the  corner of the area, and drilled a powerful low shot into the far corner of the net.

The 3M players heads seemed to drop, and only some questionable offside calls denied Tom Soane the opportunity to extend Wanderers' advantage.

3M rallied slightly and had a decent spell of possession for a few minutes, leading up to a lucky equaliser.  A "hit and hope" shot from thirty yards looped over Nick Harding and into the back of the net.

Wanderers' response was instant, and they regained the lead within a minute.  Dave Griffiths worked well to win the ball, and then fed a pass into Prior.  Prior made up for his earlier miss by turning the defender and rolling a left-footed shot under the goalkeeper and into the net.

Within three minutes it became 3-1, as Prior closed down a poor clearance and smashed a shot into the net from twelve yards.

Wokingham's confidence grew, and a flowing move saw Chris Hillsdon find Prior, who played in Ryall on the right wing.  Ryall's quick pass released Tom Soane, who was brought down by the 3M goalkeeper on the edge of the box.  The referee had no choice other than to send the offender off, and Wanderers paused as 3M brought on a replacement goalkeeper.  Prior then stepped up, and struck a left-footed free-kick narrowly wide of the far post.

The numerical advantage saw Wokingham produce several good chances as the half drew to a close.  Scott was denied from close range, and then Prior was denied a hat-trick by a good save.

Half-time saw Wanderers introduce Paul Martin for Prior, and revert to a 4-3-3 formation.

Wokingham were to dominate the second half, boosted by a solid performance from the back five, and in particular Darren Wakley.

On the hour mark the Blues made it 4-1, as Tom Soane was played in to beat the goalkeeper from eight yards out.  Richard Scott made way for Matt Cook, as Wanderers went back to 4-4-2 with Chris Orbell pushing into midfield.

A Jamie Ryall corner saw Steve Martin strike the cross bar, and captain Dave Griffiths was on hand to force the ball over the line for -1.

Paul Martin quickly made it 6-1 with a well struck shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.

Substitute Cook settled into his role, and played a part in Wanderers' seventh goal.  His pass to Tom Soane resulted in a cross which caused uncertainty for 3M, and Jamie Ryall pounced to fire home his first competitive goal since February 2004.

Wanderers weren't finished there, and further chances fell to Ryall, Steve Martin and Soane.  Paul Martin added his second with a minute left, and found time to score a third as his cross was deflected in.

This was a confident and assured performance from Wanderers.  It seems that the Blues have benefited from experiencing defeat in their opening match, and the quality of this display should serve Wokingham well in future weeks. 

TEAM: Nick Harding, Chris Orbell, Chris Hillsdon, Clint Falcus, Darren Wakley, Jamie Ryall, Steve Martin, Dave Griffiths, Anthony Prior, Tom Soane, Richard Scott.

SUBS: Paul Martin (for Prior) and Matt Cook for (Scott).