Spot on against Weston

MPS Newton 4 - 1 Weston
A commanding display of passing football this morning keeps us at the top of Division 3S with maximum points from our first three games. But for some good work by the Weston 'keeper, the score could have been much higher. The only blemish was conceding a late goal.

Weston started brightly, with one of their attacking midfielders giving our defence a few difficulties during the opening exchanges. But after fifteen minutes we'd started to stamp our authority on the game, making some good passing moves, using the width, and switching the pace.

Midway through the half Ivan had three attempts on goal in quick succession. First he made a low lunging header under pressure that went wide of the left post. Then he hit a tightly angled shot low from the right that the 'keeper blocked. And finally he ran onto Christer's inch-perfect pass into the right side of the box and arrowed a shot into the top left corner.

Andy got into some space on the left of the box, and hit a shot that the keeper did well to parry, and the defenders managed to clear.

In the first 30 minutes of the second half we increased the pressure and had Weston pinned back. Our second goal, 10 minutes into the half, came when Andy hit a corner from the right. Christer, racing in at the far post, got up well and headed into the roof of the net. Shortly afterwards there was a goalmouth skirmish and the clearance only reached Andy, standing just outside the box. He took one touch and volleyed a shot that was destined for the bottom right corner, but the 'keeper did a great job to push the ball around the post.

Fifteen minutes into the half Karsten played Joe free inside the area, the 'keeper hesitated, Joe feinted a shot, then slid the ball into the left side of the net for 3-0. (Thanks to Steve Shea for the editorial contribution). Minutes later Joe burst through at the top of the box and hit a low shot that beat the 'keeper, hit the inside of the post, and rolled all the way along the goal-line before being cleared.

Our fourth goal came when Andy saw Karsten starting a run and angled a cross from 25 yards out on the right that Karsten met with a glancing header that put the ball just inside the left post. Steve Shea's audacious 40 yard effort bounced in front of the goalie, but didn't cause him much difficulty. And even the defence got involved in the shooting: Tim Rosa's powerful drive from a square pass 25 yards out skidded a few feet wide.

With ten minutes left Weston found their second wind. They started pressing with more urgency and eventually the centre forward, who'd spent most of the game trying to kick our defence, turned well inside the box and hit a powerful shot from 12 yards that Samuel managed to get a hand to but couldn't keep out of the net.

An all-round solid performance: good passing, defending, use of the wings, and plenty of shots on goal, adding four goals to our tally (although Bardot lost some ground in the hunt for the Golden Boot).