Falcons maintained their position at the top of the league with a comfortable 4-0 win over Titans XXL on Wandsworth Common.
Olu was the latest addition to the growing injury list, which meant Jack coming in on the left in the only change from the previous week’s goalless draw against Romans. Francesco and Elliot returned to the bench, joined by Matt who has been received as a charitable donation from Birmingham Blaze.
In truth, the game was very comfortable throughout, with the opposition missing a few players and featuring some who had already played in the morning. Conal didn’t have a save to make as the defence kept any slip-ups to a minimum and the rest of the team put in an energetic display to press Titans high up the field.
It took a little while for the first goal to come and it set the tone for the other two goals in the first half. A throw-in from the left found its way to John who finished comfortably from close-range. Five minutes later and it was 2-0. This time it was John flicking on a cross from the left and Jimmy arrived at the far post to score his second Falcons goal. Then, with 40 minutes on the clock, it was back to John who took advantage of a slip in the Titans defence to make it 3-0 before half time.
Elliot came on for Pete in the second half and the team started to pass the ball around with confidence as the game wore on. 60 minutes in, a peach of a ball from the right by Jimmy found Chris’s head. He forced a spill from the goalkeeper and Stevie got his reward for a tireless performance by grabbing the rebound to make it 4-0 before being substituted for Francesco.
A number of chances continued to fall our way in the final half an hour. Alex had a nice lob ruled out for offside while Chris had a frustrating day up front, not quite able to cap a hard-working performance with the goal he deserved. Matt came on for Jack with 15 minutes ago and nearly grabbed a goal at the far post, while John missed out on his hat trick when a last-ditch tackle prevented him from getting a shot in late on.
This was our most comfortable win of the season and it was good to see energy levels kept up throughout, a huge number of chances created and next to nothing given away at the back. It bodes well for the visit of Soho next week, who were beaten 6-0 by second-place Romans yesterday.
Squad: Conal, Duncan, Andrew, Pete (Elliot 43), Jimmy, Jack (Matt 75), Alex, John, Brady, Chris, Stevie (Francesco, 60)
Scorers: John 2, Jimmy, Stevie