Heath turn on the style to wallop Wallingford
Combined Counties Football round-up: Ayres' side thwart a third successive league defeat
Flackwell Heath were able to thwart a third consecutive defeat in the Combined Counties Premier Division North with a thumping 6-1 win over Wallingford & Crowmarsh on Saturday.
With the match finely balanced at the break – thanks to Matt Ayres and Mohamed Ali – Ryan Avery, Jamie Ayres, Kaine Sinclair, and Reece Cameron (two) turned on the style to secure the Heathens an invaluable three points.
Having watched the second half unfold from the sidelines due to injury, captain Jamie Essex said it was nice to see his side be ‘ruthless’ against the Wally and rise to sixth place in the league as a result.
“Maybe me coming off is why the boys did so well,” said Essex. “I managed to watch the second half without any stress. We dominated the ball and possession, and some of the football we played was really good.
“It was nice to be ruthless in the opponent’s box for once. We have struggled to take our chances at Windsor (3-0, August 29) and in other games this season, so it was good we were able to do that on Saturday.
“It’s important for us to go on a run now, we need to start putting a string of results together. There is no hiding that our ambition is to be in the top end of the league.
“We have brought a lot of players in and quite often when you do that, it takes a little while for things to click as they find out how to play with each other or how to read each other.
“It’s important we click quickly, we don’t want to be a hit-and-miss team where you
win one and then lose one. There are a lot of big-hitters in our league so we need to always be at our best.”
On his injury, Essex added: “I collided with our goalkeeper (Isaac Hay) when Wallingford scored. He managed to run straight into my ribcage but It’s just one of
those unfortunate things that happen when you are playing in defence and try and keep the ball out.
“I’m not too sure if I have a cracked rib or a very bruised rib but I’ve just got to keep a close eye on it. It might be a few weeks this one, I am still in a lot of pain now.”
Flackwell Heath face 12thplaced Broadfields United away on Saturday. Kickoff is at 3pm.
W Burnham produced one of their best results in recent seasons as they wiped the floor with Combined Counties Premier Division North league leaders, London Lions on Saturday.
Ben Murray's Blues ran out 7-0 winners at the 1878 Stadium in as one-sided a display as you're likely to see, and they also had a couple of goals chalked off due to offside decisions. Anas Igozouln eventually fired them ahead in the first half and Rhys Harper doubled their advantage before the interval.
With Naheer Nawaf causing the visitors all sorts of problems down the flanks it wasn't long before the Blues extended their advantage.
A purple patch saw the hosts score five more after the interval with Igozouln grabbing his second, Naheer getting on thr scoresheet and a Lion’s own goal making it 50. Oliver Bishop made it 6-0 and Jack Gibson rounded off a thoroughly satisfactory afternoon for Burnham who move up to 14th off the back of this victory – surprisingly their first of the campaign.
It was a performance that had the fans purring. Brin Jones said on Twitter: “Fabulous Burnham with a brilliant performance beating the league leaders 7-0. Smiling all the way home I was.”
After their mid-week 3-1 loss to Tadley Calleva in the Premier Division Cup, Burnham get back to league action with a trip to 16th placed North Greenford United on Saturday.