West Midlands League Div 1, Saturday March 30th 2013 – A young but good footballing side, Penncroft had no answer to the pacy Alleynians forwards, ably backed by a fluid midfield and solid defence. The Stone lads repeatedly beat any offside trap and could have scored more goals if they had taken all their chances. The match was personal triumph for Nick Buckley who scored five times and tormented the home defence for the whole of the 90 minutes.
Although they were penned back in the opening minutes the Old Boys soon showed their intentions when they had a goal ruled out for offside. Penncroft had a chance but they could only find the side netting when well placed. Danny Heard then lobbed wide when he won a race with the keeper to a through ball.
After 20 mins Stone took the lead. Nick Buckley had a shot tipped around the post and Adam Tomkinson’s laid back corner to the edge of the area was rocketed home by Carl Dibden. Five mins later Luke Matthews put Buckley clear to beat the home keeper at the 2nd attempt. A couple of mins after that it was three, this time Tompkinson put Buckley through to place the ball home and it seemed like de ja vu as the speedy Buckley converted, this time, a Luke Askey pass to complete a 10 minute hat-trick. Tomkinson and Buckley twice came close to increasing the score-line before the rampant visitors got their 5th with a couple of mins to the break.
Buckley, on the left, crossing to Paul Whalley to score with ease. There was still time for home keeper to save a shot from Tompkinson and Penncroft’s Gutteridge have a very good long range shot tipped over the bar.
Half Time:- Penncroft 0 Stone Old Alleynians 5
The Alleynians continued to push forward in the second half and Buckley went clear once again but this time the keeper got the upper hand. It didn’t take long though before it was six, Askey cracking the ball into to top corner from fully 30 yards. Credit to Penncoft, they still continued to play neat football and push forward in search of a goal and were nearly rewarded with a long range shot just clearing the angle of post and crossbar. Buckley twice broke through again, converting the second chance for number seven and repeated the procedure, this time for his fifth and the visitors eighth, after latching onto a Matthews through ball to complete the scoring.
Final Score:- Penncroft 0 Stone Old Alleynians 8
Thanks to excellent work by Dave Rhodes, on the stadium pitch at Yarnfield, Stone Old Alleynians v Wolverhampton Utd was the only WML fixture played last week. On a nippy Wednesday evening the Old Boys were rewarded with a 4 – 1 victory thanks to goals from Danny Heard, Adam Tomkinson Luke Askey and Nick Buckley.
Next Saturday, 6th April, the Old Alleynians have a long trip to Leominster ko 3.00pm
