West Midlands Regional League Division One
Stone Old Alleynians 6-1 Penncroft
The Old Boys made it two league wins out of two as Carl Dibden lashed in a hat-trick and five second half goals including strikes from Billy Thorley, Chris Heard and Luke Matthews saw off Penncroft in a lively encounter at Wellbeing Park.
Dibden proved a revelation in an unfamiliar centre-forward role, and opened the scoring following some fine work down the left from Thorley. The home side’s lead was short-lived though, as some sloppy defensive play put them on the back-foot from their own goal-kick, and a double deflection saw a Penncroft strike trickle past Matt Burslem to level the scores.
Both sides had further chances in a competitive first half, and the visitors almost took the lead when Luke Askey found himself the wrong side of a Penncroft attacker who volleyed wide from inside the penalty area. Matt Thomas then found himself racing clear in attack at the other end, only to be brought down cynically 25 yards from goal, and Paul Griffiths fired the resulting free kick over the bar.
The visitors began to tire as the half drew to a close, and the Old Boys were able to take full advantage by exploiting the ever increasing gaps on a spacious pitch as the second period kicked off. Within minutes, Dibden returned Thorley’s earlier favour by teeing him up for a superb left-footed strike across the helpless Penncroft ‘keeper to restore the home side’s lead.
The Thorley-Dibden double act continued to run amok as Stone’s young winger again turned provider, slipping in Dibden who thumped home his second as the Alleynians began to move up through the gears. The energetic Griffiths proved a threat from the right this time, running almost the full length of the pitch as a counter attack saw him pick out Chris Heard with a pinpoint cross that the midfielder headed powerfully into the top corner to make the score 4-1.
Grant Bigham had been a constant threat down the right as well, his surging runs beyond Griffiths causing the Penncroft defence numerous problems, before he finally made an inroad in the 75th minute. Bigham’s centre found Dibden, and the bustling forward drove a fierce low strike into the far left corner of the net to complete an excellent hat-trick.
The Alleynians’ pre-season training regime was paying dividends as the clock ticked down, and Old Boys attackers moved freely between tired Penncroft defenders before Luke Matthews rounded off the scoring with the last kick of the game. Danny Kocyigit released Thorley, whose effort was parried across the goal as Matthews stole a yard on his marker to tap home a rare goal and put the final nail in the Penncroft coffin.
“It was brilliant to carry the momentum of our hard-fought win over Trysull into this fixture,” said Alleynians manager Matthew Smith after the game.
“Carl Dibden was fantastic in his new forward role, and gave us something extra going forward. I asked the lads at half-time to really take the game to Penncroft and that’s exactly what they did. We’ll now be looking to carry this form into our next fixture at home to Wyrley.”
Stone OA: Burslem, Hewitt, Wilson, Askey, Bigham, Thorley, Heard (Whalley), Buckley (Matthews), Griffiths (c), Thomas (Kocyigit), Dibden
Staffs County Senior League Division Two
Stone Old Alleynians Res 1-1 Wolverhampton Sporting CFC U21’s
An Adam Griffin penalty put an end to the Wolverhampton side’s winning run in manager Kev Warrilow’s first competitive fixture.
