Dominic captained Cranleigh at a drizzly Rudgwick, with Cranleigh looking for a repeat of the comprehensive victory the week before. After being asked to start faster by the manager, Cranleigh pressed from the off. The first chance of the game came from the right with Gwilym showing his energetic value. With Cranleigh continuing to press, Dom fed Raul on the left wing whose cutback found a late arriving Harry to volley side footed past the keeper.
Harry, obviously enjoying the freedom of playing in a more advanced position scored his and Cranleigh’s second from a corner after 10 minutes. This coming immediately after a defensive scare that could have made it 1-1, meant Cranleigh were grateful to be in a comfortable position. Harry was unlucky to miss out on a first half hatrick after some good work from Raul and Arthur. However Cranleigh’s 3rd did come quickly came from Dominic whose long shot bounced just in front of the keeper and a lunging defender to find the corner.
It was 14 minutes before Rudgwick had a valid attempt on goal, thanks to both possession football and good defensive work. Harrison was continuing to win his headers and Elliott was turning in a potential man of the match performance ushering attackers into dead ends and distributing the ball effectively when in possession. The fourth goal started with Elliott moving from defence to midfield and ended with Ollie firing home after the goalkeeper and defenders had made good stops. Second half and the Blue and Whites started briskly, a Raul shot from outside of the box was initially saved and Dom was unlucky to clip the rebound just over the bar. The start of the half was very much end to end, Rudgwick hitting the crossbar after Cranleigh failed to clear their lines, and then Cranleigh immediately going to the other end of the field and forcing a one on one save from the Keeper.
Gwilym played most of the second half in defence showing his versatility again, and Rylan continued his impressive unfussy start to the season commanding in centre midfield. His winning the ball set up Roland whose shot was saved, giving Ollie a chance from a tight angle that hit the post. Cranleigh got back on track with two goals from Arthur midway through the 2nd half. Number 5 came after Harrison won the ball and immediately fed it through midfield to Arthur who showing Messi like poise beat 3 defenders before slotting the ball into the bottom right-hand corner. He then reacted slightly quicker than Harry (who was teeing himself up for a tap-in and a hatrick) after Rudgwick failed to deal with a cross from the left and the ball broke kindly.
In the last ten minutes, Rudgwick did score a consolation goal. The pick of their midfielders drove at Cranleigh easily beating three players to play in their left winger who ruined Jakes clean sheet by beating him at the near post. There was still time for two more from Cranleigh. Raul was set free on the right and squared accurately behind the defence for Rylan to kill the ball efficiently and roll in. Harry Tunnel rounded off the scoring with a deserved hatrick finally from a corner. Rudgwick to their credit kept pushing on to the end, winning a free kick 25 yards out that Jake did fantastically well to claw out from the top right hand corner but ultimately this was a convincing professional win for CYFC against a good set of individuals who could not match Cranleigh’s team ethic.
Match report by Sheriff Dabiri
