Earley Gunners vs Elm Park Faithfull 8 - 0

Match Report

Earley Gunners cruised to a comfortable win over lowly Elm Park Faithful in the teams first game for three weeks.

Jon Weller had an early chance to open the scoring in the first few minutes but he shot wide from a couple of yards out. Gunners then squandered several other opportunities to score before taking the lead when Sean Kearns scored with a follow up shot from an earlier header.

A debatable second goal followed when the linesman flagged for offside then lowered the flag, the referee shouted "Play On" and the opposing keeper threw the ball out to Kevin Rapley who coolly slotted the ball home.

Elm Park Faithful failed to create any concerted pressure on the Gunners defence although the team were slow to clear the ball on a couple of occasions.

Two more goals followed from Ian Thornhill and Paul Clark before half time. There was a worrying moment when Julian Willis began to suffer a migraine during the game and a hasty substitution had to be made. Chris Price kindly "volunteered" to step between the sticks.
At half time Gunners had a comfortable 4-0 lead.

The second half continued in the same way as the first with Gunners having the majority of possession. Another four goals were added including another from Ian Thornhill and three from Kevin Rapley which took his tally to 18 for the season.

Towards the last twenty minutes Gunners took their foot off the pedal and the general play became very sloppy but the team had already done enough to win the game.

Elm Park had only one shot off note and Gunners kept yet another clean sheet.

There were good performances from Kevin Rapley, Paul Clark and Sean Kearns but Man of the Match went to Phil Byrne for a solid game in his new left back role.

Match Facts:

MOM : P Byrne

Goals : K Rapley (1), S Kearns (1), P Clark (1), I Thornhill (1), Own Goal (1)

Team: (GK) J Willis, (RB) C Price, (CB) Pa Ali, (CB) S Kearns, (LB) P Byrne, (RM) N Burrows, (CM) D Owen, (CM) P Clark, (LM) D Fry, (F) K Rapley, (F) I Thornhill, (Sub) F McNaughton

Pictures

Earley Gunners vs Valley Park 1 - 1

Match Report

This was the shock result of the season as Gunners failed to beat lowly 10 man Valley Park.
There were a few early scares when Valley took the lead and then Gunners had a (hotly disputed) penalty awarded against them. However, Gunners keeper Julian Willis saved the penalty to keep Gunners in the game.

Gunners managed to equalise through Kevin Rapley and then dominated the rest of the game with Valley Park failing to get into Gunners half of the pitch for the entire second half.
Despite hitting the post, cross bar and having numerous shots saved off the line Gunners couldn't find a way past the Valley keeper and the final result was a 1-1 draw.

Jon Weller was Gunners "Man of the Match".

Match Facts

MOM : J Weller

Goals : K Rapley (1

Team : (GK) J Willis, (RB) J Weller, (CB) Pa Ali, (CB) S Kearns, (LB) D Fry, (RM) N Burrows, (CM) D Owen, (CM) L Holdway, (LM) P Byrne, (F) K Rapley, (F) I Thornhill, (Subs) R Keyse, K Bunce

Pictures

Chemical Academicals vs Earley Gunners 0 - 5

Match Report

Gunners met top of Division 1 Chemical Academicals in the first round of the Jack Taylor Cup. Gunners soon got on the score sheet in the first few minutes when Paul Clark played a through ball to Ian Thornhill who slipped the ball past the keeper.

The Gunners midfield were clearly dominant and were always in control of the game and further goals soon followed. Dave Owen added a second with a close range shot and Kevin Rapley added a third when the keeper failed to clear the ball.

Darren Fry managed to score his first goal for the club when he poked the ball home after a through ball from Paul Clark. Gunners were rarely under any defensive pressure but could have cleared the ball away quicker on a couple of occasions. However, the opposition did not manage to create many scoring opportunities.

The second half was a little tougher against the slope but chances still came and Sean Kearns was unlucky when a couple of his efforts from corners were cleared off the line.
Chemicals had a little more possession this half but the Gunners team worked hard to limit their opportunities.

A final goal was added when Kevin Rapley crossed the ball into the box which was headed over the keeper by Paul Ali, however the ball bounced off the underside of the cross bar and was bundled in by Nick Burrows.

The final score was a comfortable 5-0 win and this result will worry other teams left in the cup competition with the previous favourites being knocked out so convincingly. Man of the Match went to Ian Thornhill for a tireless display up front which included plenty of tracking back when required.

Match Facts

MOM : I Thornhill

Goals : K Rapley (1), P Clark (1), D Owen (1), D Fry (1), N Burrows (1)

Team : (GK) J Willis, (RB) C Price, (CB) Pa Ali, (CB) S Kearns, (LB) T Poacher, (RM) L Holdway, (CM) D Owen, (CM) P Clark, (LM) D Fry, (F) K Rapley, (F) I Thornhill, (Subs) P Byrne, N Burrows, J Weller

Pictures

GWRSA vs Earley Gunners 0 - 5

Match Report

Earley Gunners were victors in this top of the table clash against second place Great Western Railway who had started well in the league.

GWRSA had the better of the first half and were unlucky not to open the scoring when their "mobile" forward hit the cross bar with a shot from outside the box. Gunners were slow to start and were second best in midfield for much of the first half.

The turning point in the game came when Ian Thornhill made a break up front, he pushed the ball past the keeper but was brought down in the box and Gunners were awarded a penalty to the protests of the opposition.

A GWRSA player was sent off for dissent and Ian was unfortunately subjected to some personal abuse by a number of disgruntled opponents and unfortunately the referee failed to control the situation.

After a break of five minutes play resumed and Kevin Rapley tucked the penalty away.

The second half saw Gunners take more control of the game and at last some football was played. Gunners added to the lead when an opposing defender was put under pressure and managed to lob his own keeper when he played the ball back.

Gunners then added three more goals, Kevin Rapley added two including a great curling free kick and Paul Clark continued his good scoring run of form by adding a further goal.

The team did have to contend with a number of dangerous challenges from the opposition who were clearly still frustrated at earlier events.

Man of the Match was Kevin Rapley who continued his fine run of form with another hat-trick, he was closely followed by Leigh Holdway who also had a good game in midfield.

Match Facts

MOM : K Rapley

Goals : K Rapley (3), P Clark (1), Own Goal (1)

Team : (GK) F McNaughton, (RB) C Price, (CB) Pa Ali, (CB) S Kearns, (LB) D Fry, (RM) J Weller, (CM) D Owen, (CM) P Clark, (LM) L Holdway, (F) K Rapley, (F) I Thornhill (Subs) P Byrne, N Burrows

Picture