Athletic March On!

Launton Athletic made it five wins on the bounce in a local derby last Saturday.

The game was put to bed in the first half with all goals scored before half time .

Athletic got the break through early in the first half. The ball was pinging around in a scrappy passage of play, before Burrows took hold of and rolled it back to Gough. With the goal some 25 yards away and not a lot else on, Gough released an absolutely thunderous shot which dipped at the end and screamed in off the bar. An early contender for goal of the season!

With their tails, up Athletic took control of the game for the rest of the first half. The second came when McConnell put Barrett through down the middle, the Athletic striker made no mistake slamming it home. 2-0.

The third was a good break by the rampant Athletic side. The ball came down the left, with Lucas-Howells finding Barrett. Barrett rolled the ball into the path of Burrows and he struck it past the keeper to make it 3-0.

Another goal in quick succession made it 4-0. Lucas-Howells took the ball past the defender down the left and whipped it a cross that Barrett met first time to guide past the keeper.

At 4-0 you could be forgiven for thinking that it was job done, but the opposition raised their game in the second half and it was only due to resolute defensive work and a great save from the Athletic keeper that a clean sheet was kept. The opposition saw far more of the ball, but invariably it ended up back with Athletic. The back three combinations of Maciejewski, Launchbury, Davies and Gough marshalled their men superbly, and the midfield ahead of them provided cover and support. Launchbury was magnificent at the back. In a Man of the Match display he disrupted everything the opposition tried, picked his positioning superbly and calmly restarted Athletic possession with a series of simple and effective passing. The one noticeable effort the opposition had, a fine shot from outside the area, was met with an equally fine save from Chaston in the Athletic goal. His hands of steel pushing the ball round his post to prevent one in the goals against column.

A match that had everything. Good attacking. Superb defending. Fine keeping. A demonstration of why the Athletic boys look so hard to beat since the season’s opening day. If the team ethic and work rate remain, they should stay on course to claim their first title!

COYY!