Despite changing our formation, we started a little hesitant allowing Thornbury more of the game in the opening exchanges. However, it wasn’t long before we settled down to play a good pattern of football. The pressure on the Thornbury defence soon paid off as an opportunity fell to Jordan Knight just on 20 mins and his sweetly struck shot flew into the corner of the net for a 1-0 lead. Both Oli Randall and Mo Bouaziz were beginning to show good stability in the midfield and from the resulting corners we were unlucky not to add to our lead. Unfortunately though we gave away possession in midfield which allowed a rare Thornbury attack and from two attempted clearances which fell to a Thornbury forward, his volley struck one of our defenders and flew over keeper Craig Francis to level the scores. 5 mins later we were 2-1 down from a penalty which Craig had no chance of saving. Unlike the week before we came back very strong almost instantly and James Boultons direct free kick found its way into the bottom corner to level the scores again at 2-2. Into first half stoppage time and some great link play put Brad Monelle clear on the right and his thunderbolt nestled in the far left corner over the keeper to bring us into half time 3-2 in the lead.

Confidence was high but the talk at half time was the importance not to concede in the second half. In fact we were only under pressure from 2 Thornbury corners as we completely dominated the second half. By now our two wide men Kyle Curtis and Nathan Dawson were playing very well with great support from their full backs James Boulton and Jordan Knight. It was our 2 second half strikers though who benefited from our dominance as Brad Monelle added a further 4 goals to finish with 5 strikes in the game and Craig Andrews who slotted home a goal to complete an 8-2 win. The pick of Brads second half goals was a neat run down the left from Jordan Knight to the bye line, a feint inside the defender and chip cross to the far post for a simple header from Brad. There were further opportunities later in the game but this was a great performance as we scored most of the chances we created. Every single player played their part in this win as we enjoyed an impressive victory. Definitely a great way to end the year which gives us a great platform for the second half of the season.

Our Man of the Match was deservedly awarded to Brad Monelle with his 5 goals although the contribution from all of his team mates was very important.