Confident Sunninghill Power Past Frimley...
A Confident performance from Sunninghill today overpowered last seasons 3rd placed team Frimley Town, with the final 3-0 scoreline not doing justice the dominance that Sunninhill had from start to Finish.
The game kicked off on a warm sunny morning with a Sunninghill team missing Ward, Finch, Keough and Paul Charles. Ben Moutrey came in for his first start of the season partnering Bennett up front, the rest of the side was unchanged from the opening day draw at West End.
The opening period started brightly with some neat football being played by the home side, keeping the ball well and getting the ball out wide to Barron and Underwood in wide positions, with a number of chances being created firstly Harcup floated a ball into the path of Moutrey who met the ball on the volley with a clever flick releasing man of the match Martin Riding clean through on goal but the left back was closed down and under pressure fired the ball wide.
The lead was gained after a foul on the right meant Toby Underwood was able to whip in a superb cross to the near post where captain Dan Parker met it with a great glanacing header into the far corner 1-0.
Paul McDowell had to be replaced on 25 minutes pulling up with a hamstring problem, Charlie Harcup came on in his place with Riding moving to centre half and Charlie Harcup moving to right fullback, and his energy caused Frimley immediate problems when he arrived late to meet Underwoods superb cross at the far post and volleyed back across goal, then with more luck than judgement Moutrey directed the ball into the net via his shins! 2-0.
Barron was unlucky when he tried his luck from 25 yards out, but his dipping volley only just cleared the crossbar with the keeper' beaten.
With Frimley backing off under the pressure the home side kept up the high tempo with a lot of joy coming down the right side using Charlie Harcups pace, and it was from a free kick won on the right that the second goal came, a superb near post free kick from Toby Underwood was glanced into the far corner by Dan Parker.
Frimley were now under a lot of pressure and the lead was further extended when Charlie Harcup was played in behind the full back, and holding onto the ball he spotted the run of Bennett, cutting the ball back into the strikers path to fire home from a full 5 yards out.
Chances came and went before half time but the scoreline remain unchanged.
Frimley were on the defensive after the first half and Clinton Haurcup made a change going to 3-5-2 so that both Charlie Harcup and Toby Underwood could get forward more, with the back 3 of Zutshi, Riding and Harcup solid throughout.
The move of the match then followed with a 5 man move finding Bennett in the area who backheeled the ball into the path of Moutrey with the defence static with the Frimley keeper blocking Moutreys effort with his feet. There was still time for Barron to leave a defender for dead with a sublime piece of skill and even Reagan was getting in on the showboating showing a variety of touches casually lifting the ball over the young Frimley no 9, before going one better and beating his personal best completing 6 kick ups on the penalty spot late on.
The final change was made with Ali Azarian replacing Moutrey who had worked tirelessly throughout.
Unfortunately 5 minutes later Barron went down with what appeared to be a torn groin muscle when attempting to cross the ball and had to be carried off the pitch, facing the remaining 20 minutes with 10 men.
Chances continued to come with the side playing some superb football keeping the ball well not forcing the play and even with a man down still pushed for more goals, until with 10 minutes left the referee was a bit over picky in booking Ali Azarian twice and the substitute was sent off, both incidents could have been bookable but in the context of the game and other incidents this decision seemed to lack any consistency.
With 9 men now on the pitch the home side were a bit more on the defensive and Frimley finally forced Reagan into a save heading straight into his arms from a deep free kick, and as the final whistle blew the home side knew that this was an important 3 points to kick start the season, with the performance to match the result which on another day could have been doubled at least.
Player Ratings
Chris Reagan - always in control of the defence, dealt very well with anything thrown at him, showed some silky skills in his area during second half. 8.
Jai Zutshi - Solid deensively and provided some penetrating runs gettin forward from fullback. 8.
Paul McDowell - Started brightly before unfortunate injury. 7.
Clinton Harcup - Marshalled defence well, didnt allow Frimley forwards to cause any problems, looked to play from the back. 8.
Martin Ridings - Another great display, up and down left side before reverted to centre half and didnt give Frimley a sniff. 9.
Dave Barron - Looked lively, looked dangerous linking up with forwards before suffered nasty injury. 7.
Rob Forde - Battled away always held the upper hand in midfield. Booked. 9.
Dan Parker (c) - Good captains display capped with fine headed goal, looked to build play and get forward. 8.
Toby Underwood - Perfect response to recent criticism! dangerous balls into area led to first 2 goals. 8.
Jon Bennett - Held Ball well and linked up well with Moutrey, showed good touched, scored. 8.
Ben Moutrey - Fine display worked hard until withdrawn late on, good movement caused a lot of problems. 7.
Subs:
Charlie Harcup - Early introduction caused a lot of problems going forward, great assist for 3rd goal. 7.
Ali Azarian - Caused a few problems but managed to get booked twice in 8 minutes on the pitch. 4.
