Sporties Get Off To A Flyer At Stokesley

<p>Sportsmans FC started the season with an away trip to stokesley. They were struggling to break down Stokesley in the opening 10minutes, but got a lucky break when a long ball between defence and keeper led to the Stokesley no.1 coming out of his box and attempting to clear but struck one of his own players and the ball fell to Michael Pedley who made a good enough connection to direct the ball home inside the near post from a good 35 yards. It was soon 2 and a through ball from Azza left Edd Craven with loads of time to pick his spot and slot home. Sporties were racking up a lot of set pieces and eventually the third came from a scramble in the box following a corner. The ball fell to full back Luke Toman who struck the bar from close range then Mikey Stevens swept home the follow up. The goal of the game then arrived after another corner that was this time headed away to James Horsfield about 25 yards from goal who chested down and unleashed a left foot volley in side the left hand post. A good build up just before halftime led to the fifth when a couple of good inter changes on the edge of the box between Scott McNichol and Edd Craven opened up the Stokesley defence and the latter stroke the ball home via a deflection. HT 0-5. <br /><br />Sportsmans found it hard to keep up the same tempo in the second half and struggled to develop play through the midfield which allowed frustration to kick in. The 6th goal came around the 60th minute mark when Azza played mikey in behind the left back and he tapped home. The final goal came and settled Edd Cravens hat trick on his first start up front for the club when Pedley played Craven in and he picked his spot early and tucked the ball home from just inside the box. Sporties conceded late on when a set piece broke down and got caught with too many players up field, which resulted in them being 2nd in the table after the first round of league fixtures. Cowtons away now follows.