After three weekends without a match it felt like we were starting again as the First team hosted relegation threatened Stonham Aspal.
With the pitch looking great and a good crowd, we started the game quickly and after just 8 minutes took the lead. A quick free kick by Will Stebbings (sponsored by R&R Carpentry) from a wide position found Dan Blowers (sponsored by CDC Blowers Ltd) to slot home from close range.
Stonham Aspal then had a good spell and almost equalised with a shot just wide. This stung us into action and on around 20 minutes Joe Murphy found Charlie Felton (sponsored by The Kings Head Yoxford) who finished smartly from the edge of the area.
The game became quite scrappy with some "strong" challenges by our opponents which kept breaking up play, and we went into half time 2-0 up.
Five minutes into the second half Will Stebbings fired over the bar from eight yards out.
Ten minutes later we got the crucial third goal to kill the game. A cross from the right was laid off by Isaac Page (sponsored by C Page Motors) for Josh Peirse to slot the ball into the net with his first kick of the match having just come on as a sub.
This was shortly followed by a disgusting moment when our opponents number 7, who was already on his last warning and about to be dismissed for a second yellow for a foul on Will Stebbings, took it upon himself to headbutt the same player. Credit to the referee for his handling of the situation and to our players who maintained control despite much provocation, and the player was shown a straight red card.
The last half hour against 10 men was one way traffic. There were long range efforts from Isaac Page, Will Stebbings, Josh Peirse, Joe Murphy and Eddie Hadley (sponsored by M&R Cars), but no further goals were scored as we saw the game out. Final score 3-0.
After a long period of inactivity the key thing was getting the result. However manager Matt Murphy was not content with the performance which speaks volumes about the standards we are setting ourselves this season.
With a few players missing today it was encouraging to see two 16 year olds on the bench, both of who came through our youth system.
Next week sees the First team hosting Elmswell, whilst the Reserves play their final league match away at Capel Plough A.
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