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Four more for Royston (May 05, 2008) Pembury 2 City 5
Four more goals from Royston Gough allowed City to cruise to victory in their penultimate game of the season. That was satisfying enough, but the bonus was the highly promising performances put on by the young players manager Dave Fairclough decided to involve following City’s Cup final win on Saturday and the fact that they had already been promoted as champions.
Adam Woollcott, who amongst the seniors looked like the kid brother you needed to protect, was quick, skilful brave and, above all, confident. Similarly, Patrick Johnson came in from the Development Squad and looked cool and competent. Jason Anthony, John Lewis and Dave Silman came on as subs and seamlessly slipped into First team football.
With several of the regular First team players allowed a day off, City might have struggled to build team understanding. But two goals in the first five minutes gave them a platform on which to build teamwork and confidence. A penalty after three minutes saw Gough step up, as if to prove that his miss in the Cup final was never going to happen again. He slammed the ball in and three minutes later a header from Dan Bonneywell seemed to have the game all but won almost before it had got going.
A couple of defensive mistakes slightly changed the complexion. Ben Booker took advantage to pull Pembury back into the competition. Gough then beat three defenders but hit the post. Meanwhile, Woollcott had been taking on his marker, laying off the ball with great composure and cutting in from the left with pace. Indeed, it was exactly that work which provided Gough with the opportunity to snatch City’s third.
From then on it was usually only a matter of playing the ball to Gough’s feet or invite him to run onto the ball as he moved into the penalty area. His speed completely lost the Pembury defence for the fourth goal and after Bonneywell had hit the post, later Gough comfortably struck the ball past the oncoming deputy Pembury goalkeeper.
Although Booker did manage to beat Danny Black near the end, City’s much changed team finished with the optimism that came from seeing a blend of youth and current regular First team players look comfortable and ready to face a new season.
CITY: Black; Baker (Silman), Solly, Salter, P. Johnson, Gutsell (Lewis), Brooke, Reed, A. Woollcott (Anthony), Bonneywell, Gough. Click here to return to the News page
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