Royals Match Report 2003-04

Smith leads the way in Goal Festival.

Church Stretton 11-1 Orleton
(Smith 4, Carless-Turland 3, Hearle2, Riley 2) (League - 02-11-03)

It was important for the Magpies to show the spectators and themselves that they could still play good football, and that the results from the previous weeks had not disheartened them too much. After a torrential overnight downpour the pitch had softened up nicely and so for the first time, we were not playing on a rock hard pitch.

As a result of his efforts and hard work in training Joe Hearle had earned himself a start up front for the first time, alongside Rory Smith In the pre-match talk we emphasised that the team needed to go out and play as soon as the whistle blew to start the match, as twice recently we had conceded very early goals, which had later cost us the matches.

They seemed to understand because it took just 2 minutes for Joe Hearle to coolly slot the ball past the Orleton keeper, after a mistake in the Orleton midfield gave the ball to the Magpies.

Just 3 minutes later Joe Hearle took possession of the ball and used his pace to run down the right wing and send a cross to the feet of Rory Smith who made no mistake from close range.
After 8 minutes Joe Hearle scored his second, again after a commanding run from just inside the Orleton half.

The Magpies defence of Michael Brayne and Simon Riley were not put under too much pressure but when they were they coped admirably. They were always in control at the back, and with Simon Riley pushing up into midfield to support the attackers, this looked the most "complete" team performance for some time.

With 5 minutes to go in the first half Rory Smith latched onto a poorly cleared ball on the outside of the area and took is past a defender to fire home past the keeper for his second.

Half time saw no changes to the line up, and with the added help of the breeze and the slope, it wasn't long before Magpies were able to increase the score to 5-0, after Simon Riley powered his way from midfield to strike home from the edge of the area.

Michael Brayne continued to dominate in defence and started to edge further forward when able. He was unlucky not to get himself on the score sheet at least once after having 2 long range shots sail just over the bar. After 6 minutes of the 2nd half Rory Smith completed his hatrick with a sweetly struck shot from the edge of the area into the corner of the Orleton goal, making the score 6-0.

Magpies 7th was a strange goal - Simon Riley powered a shot from just inside the Orleton half and everyone including the keeper thought it was going wide of the goal, however it found the back of the net after hitting the inside of the post.

Rory Smith added an 8th goal after the Orleton defence failed to clear from their 5 yard area and he was first to the ball.

Orleton did have some consolation though, and a fine run down the left wing saw their player take the ball around Michael Brayne and send a sweet cross over to their unmarked attacker who only had Ed Groom to beat. This was probably the only mistake that Magpies made defensively in the whole game.

With 10 minutes to go, Harvey Carless-Turland replaced Joe Hearle and immediately he showed why he is the top goal scorer so far this year. Some determined running and tackling down the left wing saw him cut in to the penalty box score his first 2 goals in little over 4 minutes. He added a 3rd with one minute to go after the keeper could not hold a shot from Simon Riley.

Final score 11-1 and a much needed victory and a performance to be proud of.

Team: Ed Groom, Michael Brayne, Simon Riley, Joe Hearle, Rory Smith. Sub: Harvey Carless-Turland