Alveston produced another dominant display as they swept aside Brinklow Juniors with a comfortable 4-0 victory. From kick off it was clear that the home side possessed a better footballing quality and determination and as the half was to unfold GK Isaac Downes was little more than a spectator as the home side pushed on.
Down the right hand flank Jamie Stephens and Alan Mackinnon gathered the impetus as they combined on more than one occasion but frantic defending by the visitors prevented any clear site of goal materialising. In the middle of the park midfielders Mattie Ricketts and Billy Dingley battled hard to find room to create the elusive opening but when Stephens was able to release Josh Humphries through the middle any doubts and frustrations were forgotten as he calmly shot past the keeper from 12 yards.
This seemed to unsettle Brinklow and within minutes their loss of concentration enabled Alveston to gain a second goal when from a corner Mackinnon was able to take advantage of hesitant defending and smash home from close range. This was then followed by as series of chances. First Roshen Foley’s hard struck long drive was well saved, Humphries again released through the middle hit the post and when Alex Connor beat this marker to take the ball to the dead ball line, his pulled back cross was met by Mackinnon who struck just over.
In the 2nd half Alveston immediately regained the impetus. The defensive line of Jake Greaves, Dan Malone and Jordan Pace stepped further up the field and strong tackling by Malone and Pace supported by the confident authority of Greaves at centre back enabled the midfield to thrive on the additional support. On the right hand side both Humphries and Dingley nearly profited but their shots were just wide and a Stephen’s volley went tantalising close as well.
All this pressure was finally rewarded when Greaves first to the ball once again was able to find an unmarked Humphries who grabbed his second with a firmly struck shot. Chaos seemed to then reign in the Brinklow defence and Alex Connor, Harry Spencer and Harry Coleman could all count themselves unlucky not to get on the end of crosses that shot across the six yard box. Ricketts then narrowly missed when his shot went agonisly wide but with all this pressure the 4th goal was inevitable.
When Pace released Connor to cross from the left Harry Spencer was able to make room for himself to shoot and when the keeper fumbled Joe Vose was on hand to pick up the rebound and steer home. In the last ten minutes of the game Brinklow rallied hard but solid defending notably at right back by Dan Malone restricted the visitors to one long range shot that keeper Isaac Downes covered well.
