1st Xl achieve resounding win

On a cold dreary morning Sutton Valence raised a bare eleven to face BBHC at home. After a successful first leg away, Valence were eager to stamp authority from the start of the match, and they quickly showed this eagerness, passing the ball briskly around the opposition, creating chance after chance. This pressure quickly broke the defence, with Kevin Kirkham getting good shots off and scoring consecutively at 2 and 4 minutes, although not managing to slot in the ‘open goal’ from the tightest of angles. Soon after this James Stanford scored the first of his triple, high into the net from a well-placed drag-flick. Some brilliant passing and moving resulted in Lewis Mitchell slotting the ball in the net with a completely unnecessary dive along the ground. Another short corner resulted in Stanford's 2nd of the day.
Half time 5-0 to the mighty Valence.
The second half was once again controlled by the home team passing the ball swiftly through the opposition resulting in several short corners. Unfortunately, with the opposition goalkeeper finding some bravery and making some brilliant saves including using the ‘nod-it off the pitch’ technique, no more short corners were converted. But with Lewis’ mum spurring him on, Russel ‘Prince Charming’ Blanchard aerialed the ball far into the other half, much to everyone's amazement. He then went on to hitting the ball across the D where Stanford nudged the ball into the goal to complete his hat-trick. Further open play goals from Fred McVarish and another from Mitchell meant the finishing score was a resounding 8-0.
This result keeps the 1st Xl in a strong 3rd position in the League.
A brilliant effort from all, apart from Stampy of course. (Must have been finalising the new kit)
MOM: Russel Blanchard
DOD: Kev Kirkham for passing too much and for hat-trick avoidance.
Goals: Kirkham (2,4); Stanford (18,32,61); Mitchell (21,69); McVarish (67)

Team: Stewart Young, Russell Blanchard, Rob Bray, James Stanford, Dan Brooks, Jack Davies, Fred McVarish, Lewis Mitchell, Brett Angel, Kevin Kirkham, Marius Dreyer
Umpire: Andrew Wishart

Next week the 1st Xl are away to Holcombe 3rd Xl, currently in 6th position.

Match Report by James Stanford.