We got our summer season back on track with a confident and occasionally casual win against Lexington. The setting was idyllic, a balmy summer evening and a freshly mown pitch in a forest setting. Your correspondent turned up late in the first half and had just missed the rare spectacle of a Tim Rosa goal, an excellent strike by all accounts, but I can't report on hearsay. Eric had earlier given us the lead when the Lexington 'keeper couldn't hold his shot.
With a two goal cushion we relaxed and started putting some good moves together, but we missed the final incisive touch to increase the score. Pap made a run down the left and dropped a teasing cross into the six yard box only for the 'keeper to get a touch and push the ball out. Christer hit a powerful shot from the edge of the box that looked to be going just wide of the left post when Eric got a touch, but he put the ball wide of the right post. Joe hit a firm shot from twenty yards that flew just over the angle of crossbar and right post.
Late in the half Lexington had a good chance to get back into the game when a defensive error fed the ball to a lurking attacker on the edge of the box. Victor could only watch helplessly as the ball was curled over his left hand but it hit the crossbar and was cleared.
The second half started much as the first had ended: we were controlling the game, with occasional lapses in concentration. For a spell of ten or fifteen minutes the ball was given away cheaply and the defence looked a little disorganised. Lexington almost scored when a good low shot from fifteen yards beat Pap in goal but was stopped on the line by Tim Rosa. The shock of that close call seemed to galvanise the team and we increased the pressure considerably on the tiring Lexington team.
Joe fed Victor with a perfect angled pass from the middle to outside left, and Victor's cross was deflected for a corner. Steve took the corner and got the ball back from an attempted clearance. He rounded a defender close to the bye-line, ran the ball closer to the goal and deftly chipped a cross over the outstretched hands of the 'keeper, leaving Eric with a simple touch to score. A couple of minutes later Tom chested an attempted clearance to Eric on the edge of the box and he hooked the ball into the bottom left corner to complete his hat-trick. It was at this point that one of the Lexington defenders was heard to complain about shots defying the laws of physics.
Our fifth goal was a beautiful end-to-end move involving so many people that some names may be missing. Kirk played from in front of our penalty area to Tim on the left, who pushed it down the line to Tom; he cut the ball inside to Joe, from where it was sent to Paul on the right wing, half way into the Lexington half. Paul ran past a defender and cut in a low cross that the 'keeper managed to partly block, only for Steve Shea to step up and tap the ball into the gaping net. Easy.
Just before the end the Lexington 'keeper managed to get his fingers to another corner from the right, but Paul was on hand to knock the ball in from close range.
Squad: Victor, Mike, Kirk, Tim, Ron, Pap, Tom, Eric, Paul, Steve, Joe, Christer
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