06/02/2010

Dorset League Division 2

Sturminster Marshall Res 9  Puddletown 1

The Stur second string took on struggling Puddletown at Churchill Close two weeks after hitting eight in the away fixture and emerged with the three points and another plus 8 in the goal difference column.

The visitors must have feared the worst when Luke Geddes opened the scoring after just 14 seconds. Puddletown kicked off, Erkan Mete won the ball and fed Tom Rudd who played the ball in to Geddes in the inside left channel. The Stur front man took the ball on before curling a shot from the corner of the area into the top corner of the net.

The lead was doubled after twelve minutes when Luke Geddes advanced into the box. The chasing defender knew he had no chance of catching the Stur front man and you could almost see the cogs turning in his mind as he tossed a mental coin - heads I bring him down, tails I don't. It came down heads and his crude challenge was punished with the award of a penalty which Mete hammered home.

The third goal came in the 25th minute when Dave Johnson picked out the overlapping Jack Geddes who hit a first time cross which his brother side footed home. Two minutes later and the visitors gave themselves a glimmer of hope when a tame shot from the edge of the area went under the diving Andy Talbot and into the back of the net. The hope was short lived, Mete and Geddes combined well in the area and Mete fired home to restore the home side's three goal advantage.

The half time lead could have been even more emphatic. The beleaguered Puddletown keeper parried a Geddes shot straight to Mete who somehow managed to shin it wide from six yards. Mete then spotted the keeper off his line and lifted a shot over his head from 40 yards. Geddes then hit his shot straight at the keeper when well placed.

The second half continued in the same vein and it simply became a question of how many the home side would score. Geddes completed his hat trick in the 50th minute and score his 4th five minutes later before making way for Scott Logan. Logan was desperately unlucky not to get on the score sheet when his close range shot was deflected wide by an unwitting defender.

To their credit, the visitors kept plugging away and it wasn't until the 75th minute that Steve Johnston scored the 7th. Five minutes later and it was eight, Johnston controlling a cross field pass on his chest before poking the ball round the shell shocked visiting goalkeeper and running it into the empty net. Joe wood made in nine in the ninetieth minute when he slammed the ball home from six yards after the visiting defence failed to deal with a left wing corner.