Sonning Common 0 V Rides Dynamos 4
Rides arrived in plenty of time at the Sonning Common pitch to enable a thorough and lengthy warm up, and it paid off dividends, coming off the back of a 1-1 draw with Shinfield, a game which Rides really should have won, confidence was high despite Sonning Common only being 2 places below them in the league.
Manager Ant Howlett had the luxury of a full squad to select from, and made the chooice to drop Ashley Partridge to the reserves, and give Phil Hemmings a run out from the bench.
It was a one sided first half, Rides dominated play and despite some persistent chasing down from the Sonning Common forwards they couldnt muster a single shot on target. Carl Barrie was a constant threat to the SC defence and the consistent back four of the Rides team looked steady under pressure.
Rides were scrappy at times but when they played the ball to feet and moved off the ball they looked un-touchable, the first goal was a 3 pass move, a trademark massive clearnace from goalkeeper Wayne Box was flciked on by Blob, and Carl Barrie was on hand to tuck away smartly under pressure leaving the SC keeper with no chance, Barrie was again on target for number 2 as Rides pressured the SC defence again, the back four could not handle the movement of the Rides forwards and Barrie had a simple tap in after good work from Big G.
Big G himself managed to get on the scoresheet before half time, finishing well after a good passing move involving 4/5 Rides players, half time the score was 0-3 to Rides and all looked well.
Phil Hemmings was introduced to the fray and Lee Partridge on the left wing was also shown a lot more of the ball. Lee came very close to scoring after Sub Kelvin Ratcliffe sprinted past the SC left back, and whipped in a gem of a cross only for Lee to blaze over from 8 yards!
SC started to get forward and from a set piece Rides veteran centre half Lea Claridge did well to slam the ball off the line after Wayne Box in the Rides goal was screened by his defence. SC then rattled the Rides cross bar with a thunder bolt from 25 yards out that Wayne Box, despite being a full stretch could get nowhere near to!
It was left to Carl Barrie to seal the win with a trademark one on one effort after being sent clear by Darren Purbrick, all in all a good win and well deserved for the Rides boys, keeping a clean sheet was a good pyschological boost for keeper Wayne Box and the back four.
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