Oakwood 1 Ringmer 5

19/04/08

Match Report by David Ruffles

 

The Blues hit top form on Saturday to gain a comfortable victory against an Oakwood side still under the threat of relegation.

 

Ringmer dictated the play for long periods with their controlled passing game to such an extent that the home side were restricted to the odd breakaway. Ringmer’s defence began with Jack Stern deputising in goal for the injured Joe Adams, Matt Davies also stepping up from the Reserves at full back for his first start in the first team and a central pairing of Danny McLaughlin and Miles Scerri, both of whom built their reputations farther up the field. Stern and Davies both had impressive debuts while McLaughlin and Scerri dealt comfortably the Oaks frontmen.

 

As early as the second minute a long ball from Scerri allowed Marc Whiteman to run clear only to send his shot straight at Scott Kenward in the Oaks goal. Ten minutes later a shot from Lovegrove forced Stern into a diving save by his left hand post. After Nick Barden had seen his powerful header hit the crossbar, a sweetly struck free kick from Joe Dryer found the top corner of the net with Kenward left flat-footed in the middle of the goal. Although Ringmer continued to press forward this proved to be the only goal of the first half with the closest the Blues came to a second was when a long range chip from Scerri beat Kenward only to pass inches wide of the target.

 

The opening minutes of the second half were dominated by the Oaks with Stern forced to save with his feet to deny Gardner. Ten minutes into the half a cross from Gardner was convert by Lyons at the near post to level the scores. This setback stung the Blues back into action with Dryer wriggling through the home defence. His shot was spilled by Kenward who recovered well to gather the ball off the feet of the advancing Barden. Then a cross from Whiteman found Dryer inside the penalty area and he made no mistake with a first time shot passed Kenward. The Oaks hit back almost immediately with Ringmer needing goal-line clearance from Jack Johnson to keep out a shot from Lyons. But that was effectively the end of any resistance from the home side as Whiteman plundered three goals in the space of ten minutes. First he latched onto a through ball to slide the ball home under the advancing Kenward, and then he drove a pass from Johnson into the bottom corner of the net. His third was the pick of the bunch when a midfield pass from Dryer found Barden out on the right wing and his first time cross was met inside the penalty area by a snap shot from Whiteman that flew into the net like a rocket.

 

 

 

	Player	Goals	Comment
1	Jack Stern	.	(GK)
2	Matt Davies	.	.
3	Dave Soutar	.	.
4	Danny McLaughlin	.	.
5	Miles Scerri	.	.
17	Ryan MacMillan	.	.
7	Luke Gedling	.	.
8	Jack Johnson	.	.
9	Mark Whiteman	64,70,74	.
10	Joe Dryer	26, 27	.
11	Nick Barden	.	(Capt.)
6	-----------------	.	shirt retired for season

 

.	Substitutes	Goals	Comment
12	Glenn Matten	.	On for D Soutar
14	Aaron MacMillan	.	On for N Barden
15	Ryan Betsworth	.	On for D McLaughlin
16	Paul Thomsett	.	Not Used
18	.	.	Not Used

 

Manager	Steve Johnson
Coach	Paul Thomsett
Sports Therapist	Ian Fairs

 

Referee	Colin Mallows
Assistant No.1	Mike Day
Assistant No.2	John Holman
Attendance	38