A really nice Sunny Saturday morning and a great pitch saw us welcome Ewhurst for a league fixture. We were also looking forward to the return to Cranleigh of Zachary Barnett for his first game for us in 3 years.
Cranleigh started brightly and the game was played in the Ewhurst half. A great teasing cross from Charlie Gibson could only be turned into the Ewhurst net by their defender to put us 1-0 up. With Ethan Payne and Zach pressing in midfield it wasent long before our next chance came with a shot from the edge of the area by Ethan Payne superbly saved by the keeper immediately followed by a great effort by Zach.With Cranleigh camped in the Ewhurst half Deon Mubaiwa twice broke free only see his efforts saved . Midway through the first half a goalmouth scramble saw Sullivan Howick pounce at the back post for 2-0. Two minutes later a Sullivan corner was smashed home by Zach for 3-0.
Sullivan had been out injured for a few weeks but on his return he was having an amazing game , even more so as his pass saw Deon score our 4th with a first time shot from the edge of the area.
Coming towards half time the Ewhurst players heads were starting to drop and they dropped even more as Zach beat 3 players to score his second and our 5th. At the half time team talk it was stressed about the importance of a clean sheet. Whatever Ewhurst had thrown at us which to be honest wasent much had been ably dealt with by a defence of Issac Holt , Charlie Obrien and Jack Westerman with Isaac Denton – Miller in goal coming out to clear the many long balls Ewhurst were hitting.
With the start of the second half Ewhurst came out with a bit more intent and tried to press forward a bit more . resulting in a misplaced pass by a Cranleigh defender falling at the feet of a Ewhurst forward with an open goal. An amazing sliding tackle by Isaac Holt denied them a goal and the ball was cleared. This did however leave more space behind their defence and a excellent effort by Deon cannoned off the bar.
Hitting the bar probably annoyed Deon as a minute later he seemed to beat most of the opposition to score again 6-0. Having seen Deon take on the entire Ewhust team Charlie Gibson emulated him to score his first much deserved goal 7-0. With the game drawing to a close there was just time for Charlie Gibson to produce a piece of magic and score the best goal of the game. Having picked up the ball near the left corner flag and with 2 defenders closing him down Charlie ran at them with the ball with no space and nowhere to go Charlie produced a fantastic rainbow flick which took the ball over the heads of both defenders and as he ran past them half volleyed the ball into the top corner. A seconds stunned silence followed his goal before everyone including the Ewhurst coaches cheered his awesome goal.
The final whistle saw Cranleigh run out 8-0 winners , however a bit more team play around the Ewhurst area in the 2nd half might of resulted in more goals but 8 goals and a clean sheet made for a satisfying result
Man of the match – Charlie Gibson . A dominant display and a wonder goal
Scorers
Deon Mubaiwa 2
Charlie Gibson 2
Zach Barnett 2
Sullivan Howick 1
OG 1
