SYDENHAMS (WESSEX) LEAGUE DIVISION ONE
MONDAY 9TH APRIL 2012
VERWOOD TOWN 8 AMESBURY TOWN 0

It was a wet and windy Easter Monday as we welcomed Amesbury Town to Potterne Park for our final home game of the season. John Webb returned to the side to replace Dave Wrixton who was unavailable in the only change to the team that won at Stockbridge two days previously. The opening seven minutes of the match gave no indication of what was to follow as both teams were trying to settle on the greasy pitch with little action to speak of. Until that was, Webb picked up a loose ball 25 yards out and put Satterley through into the area and he made no mistake from 12 yards with our first real chance of the game. 1-0

This was to signal what was really a siege on the Amesbury goal. Within a few minutes Satterley was at it again, this time dispossessing the full back on the left wing, cutting in and delightfully chipping the goalkeeper who had rushed out to narrow the angle. 2-0

On 12 minutes Homer won the ball and immediately fed Satterley who charged into the box looking for his third. This time a desperate lunge from a defender pulled him down and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Satterley picked himself up, pleaded his case to take the penalty and who could blame him and duly slotted home for one of the quickest hat-tricks you will ever see and Jack's 11th goal for Verwood in 17 starts. 3-0

The pressure continued, on 17 minutes a ball to the far post found Homer unmarked but he appeared to slip at the wrong moment and the chance was gone. Just after we forced our first corner but Delaney fired over with a half volley. On 22 minutes a great cross by Dyer found the head of Gajic on the penalty spot but the header was inches wide. Despite the onslaught we had to stay alert at the back and Delaney made a superb interception to stop a through ball giving an opponent a run on goal. A quieter spell followed until the 30th minute when Satterley chased down a long ball but his goal bound shot was deflected for a corner. The set piece found Kelly trying to get in on the act but his shot was too high. On 33 minutes a quality cross from Evans found Gajic about 10 yards out and this time his header went inside the post giving the keeper no chance. 4-0

Before you knew it within a couple of minutes Gajic was in space in the visitor's box and he finished superbly. 5-0 The question on everyone's lips was could Gajic match Satterley's earlier 5 minute hat-trick but the chance didn't quite come his way. On 39 minutes a ball from Anderton to Haskell down the flank and Haskell with a sublime flick inside to Homer brought a foul on Saturday's hat trick hero and another free kick this time 25 yards from goal. Haskell who had so far played a supporting role decided he wanted in on the action and duly planted the free kick in the corner of the net scoring for the fourth game in a row. One supporter was heard to shout "it's just like watching Brazil"! 6-0

We hadn't finished for this half. Good work by Evans down the right fed Webb and his snap shot forced a good save from the goalie. Dyer's corner was met by a header from Haskell which again was deflected for a further corner.

Half-time 6-0

We came out for the second half with more goals in our minds. Amesbury though to their credit stuck at it and didn't give up. Webb had a good run early in the half before putting Haskell through but his pull back from the by-line was not picked up by anybody else. Amesbury made a couple of rare attacks but nothing too much to threaten the home goal. It was on the hour mark that we were to add to our tally. A corner from Dyer was headed goalwards in typical bullet like fashion by Haskell. A defender had made a valiant attempt to stop the ball crossing the line but eventually the linesman decided it was in and belatedly flagged accordingly. 7-0

We were on the march again and on 62 minutes a brilliant run from Satterley all the way to the by-line resulted in an unselfish pull back for Homer to tap in at the far post. 8-0

A few minutes later manager Arnold had decided that the maybe the points were safe and introduced Sam Sheppard and Matt Dear who replaced Kelly and Gajic respectively. On 69 minutes a rare slip from the otherwise immaculate Delaney saw him square the ball across his own penalty area and set up Amesbury for their best chance of the game but Lynch had stayed alert and saved brilliantly at point blank range. With 71 minutes gone Dan Rose came on for Anderton and now all subs had been given a good run-out. Several more chances came our way over the final 15 minutes, the best being a Haskell header at the far post from Rose's unselfish chip but a defender blocked the attempt without knowing much about it. The last effort of the game fell to Satterley after one of the best moves with smart build up involving Haskell and Homer but Satterley's shot was just wide. A tremendous performance from the home team giving us our 7th consecutive victory and our 5th consecutive clean sheet and left us needing one more victory to confirm the league championship.

Full-Time 8-0

Report submitted by Steve Jefferis