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
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