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
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