28h August 2010

Dorset Premier League

Chickerell Utd 0  Sturminster Marshall 4 

Following the postponement of the midweek game versus Cobham due to the adverse weather conditions, Marshall were once again on the road, and away to Chickerell in a bid to improve following their first defeat of the season away to Wincanton 7 days previously.

Fortunately the day was bright and on a decent pitch, and despite having five regulars missing, Stur were comfortable for large parts of the game and cantered to a 4-0 victory.

However it was not all one way traffic and in the nervy opening exchanges, some sloppy play and loss of possession encouraged Chickerell on when Gage failed to clear the ball deep in Marshall territory. Despite this, the first goal was always on the cards as the pace of the Stur front line was a constant threat in behind, particularly when Luke Geddes just missed out on his first goal of the season when his outstretched leg narrowly missed a ball across the 6-yard box. And so it was that by the 20^th minute, Stur were 1-0 up thanks to an own goal courtesy of good link-up between Manuel and Tovey.

Soon afterwards Stur were 2-0 up when a confident patch of possession football ended up in a long ball from Danny Neville. There was a mix-up between the Chickerell defenders and goalkeeper and Dan Manuel was on hand to pounce.

The first half ended 2-0, but not before Shear, deputising for Maitland in the Marshall goal, made a sharp reflex save to turn a goal-bound effort over the bar and preserve the 2 goal cushion.

The second half began in a scrappy manner, with much of the fluency of the Stur game faltering. Nevertheless, before long, Manuel found himself in the opposition box and, with a bit of trickery, found himself getting the ball out from under his feet and hitting a cute strike into the top corner of the net. 3-0.

This appeared to settle the Marshall nerves and the inevitability of the result allowed them to enjoy their football and get the ball down for the remaining third of the game. Luke Geddes was replaced by Scott Logan and apart from the one occasion where Shear again pulled off a marvellous save, it was largely-one way traffic. Stur could, and perhaps should, have had more.

Dan Manuel was once again running riot and his 2^nd hat-trick of the season was no more than the striker deserved as he notched up his 7^th of the season with a volley past the floundering keeper once he was put through over the top by the Marshall skipper Matt Jones who was in full control of the midfield alongside Mark Reynolds.

All in all a good performance showing promise of what Sturminster Marshall can do to teams this season when they play to their potential. A welcome return to winning ways.