Wanderers secured the Third Division
title with a convincing win against lowly Priestwood Predators.
Andy Corless returned for the Blues
in central midfield, as a record crowd gathered at Langborough, to see the Blues clinch the championship.
The match followed a similar pattern
to the games against Syngenta and Sunninghill Jaguars, with Wanderers struggling to make an impact in the early stages.
Priestwood started brightly, producing
two good passing moves, although they didn't trouble Allan Mellor's goal.
After twenty minutes Wanderers managed
to open their account. A low Anthony Prior corner was only cleared as far as Elliott, who controlled well before smashing
an unstoppable shot into the top right hand corner of the net.
Minutes later the Blues were celebrating
again, Tom Soane made the most of Priestwood's offside appeals to battle his way through and loft the ball over the goalkeeper.
On the back of their two goals, Wanderers
grew in confidence and enjoyed more possession. It was their set pieces however that caused Priestwood most problems.
Dan van der Laan O'Donnell's near post header from Ian Griffiths' corner was cleared off the line, but Corless was on hand
to bundle home from close range.
Priestwood did not learn their lesson, just
before the break they afforded Corless a free header from another Griffiths' corner, and the result
was inevitable as he directed the ball high into the corner.
Wanderers were unable to carry their
domination over into the early part of the second half. Soane and Paul Martin were running tirelessly in attack, and
gave the Priestwood defence no respite.
It wasn't until Priestwood scrambled
home a goal ten minutes into the half that Wanderers raised their performance again.
Martin collected the ball and ran
towards the right by-line, his low cross evaded Prior but was bundled into the net by a Priestwood defender.
To their credit, Priestwood continued
to press. With ten minutes remaining they scored with a powerful volley from a corner.
Once again this spurred Wanderers
on, Griffiths played in Soane who finished clinically to put the victory beyond any doubt.
Substitute Lewis Trusty missed a chance
to put the icing on the cake in the closing seconds, but it took nothing away from Wanderers' achievement.
At the start of the season the title
was Wokingham's aim, but their dominance of the division has taken many by surprise.
TEAM:
Allan Mellor, Chris Hillsdon, Dan van der Laan O'Donnell, Matthew Elliott, Chris Orbell, Ian Griffiths, Andy Corless,
Tom Mansfield, Anthony Prior, Tom Soane, Paul Martin.
SUBS: Scott Ford (for Corless), Lewis Trusty (for Mansfield) and Clint Falcus (for Prior).