Result : WIN 9-0 vs Wapping 5
Match Report : Ben Berndes-Cade
With recent form for the 4’s being top notch, this game was a time to focus more on finite details of our game. A good, energetic start from push-back, 50/50’s, discipline and pressing were at the fore-front of our gameplan on Saturday. Some players followed these details… others did not…
With a fairly rushed warm-up for both teams, Southgate came out of the gate strong and fast, hitting Wapping 5’s hard, having the majority of possession, they dominated link-up play and seamlessly ripped through the opposition.
It wasn’t before long where Southgate achieved their first 2 short corners, leading to a deflected drag flick from Ben Berndes-Cade in the back of the net, scoring the first goal of the game. 1-0 Southgate.
Great link-up play from James Cubin to Ben Berndes-Cade saw a quick ball into the shoulder of the D, hitting Andy Buckle who took a shot that was blocked from the keeper. Mitch Read managing to pick up the pieces on the baseline to then put a dangerous ball across the goal for Kabir Bowry’s quick hands to first, roll a defender, next, to slot it past the keeper for 2-0.
Wapping were seemingly off the pace of the game, a miss-placed pass giving Andy Buckle an easy pass to Mitch Read, who activated the afterburners to roll the ball from fore-hand to reverse, beating a Wapping defender to enable his wrap around the shoulder of the D, giving him enough space to ping an unstoppable ball straight to the back post, where the -currently- injured Angus Burns awaited. An easy deflection from the injured man saw Southgate secure the 3-0 score line comfortably.
A strong performance overshadowed by a sending off for Ben Berndes-Cade, a re-occurring theme for the past 3 games now! A disciplinary issue that he should REALLY be working on…
However, the team performance didn’t drop as Luke Tullo put in a great shift at Centre-Back once again, constantly frustrating and denying the Wapping front-line with strong and hard tackles before they could get close to the D. Kosta (Nigel Sellars) also found some easy work sitting just in front of our Centre-Back position, picking up the ball with strong distribution.
The defence of the 4’s was confident and seemingly elementary as some great transfers came from Alessandro Onano and Luke Tullo, that enabled Kiran Ghosh some lovely runs down the wing from his right-back position.
A quickly taken free hit from outside the 23-line from Kabir Bowry found Andy Buckle in the D, poised and with a cheeky angled stick, managed to catch the keeper off guard and chipped him for 4-0. The half ended as such however, the 4’s yearned for their earlier missed chances to be rectified.
The second half continued like the first, with Southgate breaking with conviction. James Cubin making some key interceptions and picks on his weak side saw an energetic counter, from Cubin, to Lik, slapped inside to Mitch Read, then laid off to Buckle for another goal after sending the defender the wrong way and pushing past the keeper. 5-0
Not long after, Lik had another great impact on the game, from outside the 23 finding Mitch Read in the middle-right of the D, who then zig-zagged back to Andy Buckle on the back left post, for an easy 6-0.
Buckle wasn’t satisfied though, getting a bliss through-ball from Cubin, facilitated a strong, bobbly shot from Buckle that easily beat the Wapping keeper. 7-0
Mitch was feeling jealous and wanted to get in on action, he bullied his way to the top of the D and pushed back the Wapping defender pressing him, for a quality shot under the shoulder, pounded the backboard making it 8-0.
Credit to Wapping, as they never stopped running and were always trying to puncture the Southgate defence with quick counter-attacks.
Cubin should’ve made it 9 through his great dribbling after taking it off Andy Buckle and beating the keeper, only to hit the woodwork with a reverse pass, trying to slide it into the left corner of the goal.
Kiran Ghosh and Mitch Read would not make the same mistake however, Ghosh, picking the ball from an attempted clearance from Wapping, saw him drive forward, with a silky roll-out at the top of the D that found Mitch on the P-spot, Read, following in Ghosh’s footsteps, rolls again and beats the keeper easily for 9-0.
A strong and confident performance from te 4’s that worked on a lot of the woes from previous games saw Mitch get Man of the Match, with Buckle close behind by 1 and Ben Berndes-Cade picking up Dick of the Day once AGAIN for consistent cards throughout the past 3 games!
An honourable mention to Scott Ramsey, playing his first game for the 4’s team. Coming in from the 4A’s, he adapted his play and fit into the game very well, having the confidence to take on players from left-back and gaining the team space, time and momentum throughout the game.