By Roger Baxter.
Wentworth finally ended their goal drought in this term’s college football, but still came out on the wrong end of a 5-1 trouncing at the hands of a determined James side, and remain rooted at the foot of the table. James proved themselves the better team in the course of the second half, a James Offord hat-trick the highlight of some persistent attacking play.
The game began somewhat later than the others on 22 Acres, and this was reflected a little in a lacklustre start. The pace of Lachie Murray managed to win an early corner for Wentworth, but otherwise the men in purple had little to offer in terms of attacking play in the opening minutes; James, meanwhile, concentrated on playing down the right wing, an approach that met with limited success.
The first real chance of the half fell to Wentworth. Some intricate passing play maeandered around the James box, before Andy Suggitt thumped the eventual cross over the bar, having ably created some space for himself. This miss was to prove costly, as James were to score their first goal immediately afterwards. Josh Brownlow, fresh from a Ryan Gigs-esque run down the left, saw the onrushing form of Wentworth goalkeeper Brennan and calmly lifted it over his head and into the net to take the lead.
1-0 was the way it stayed until half-time, but not for Wentworth’s lack of trying. Wave upon wave of attacks bombarded the James box, Dom Green spurning the best of them when he fired low past Toby Owen’s right-hand post while one-on-one with the James goalkeeper. It seemed an equaliser had to be coming, and Wentworth looked to use the attacking presence of Suggitt, who hit the post with a short snap shot, and had a looping header acrobatically pushed over the bar by a flailing Owen. James ended the first half a goal to the good, but all the signs seemed to point to their lead not lasting altogether that long.
The beginning of the second half saw play move further up the pitch and devolve a little into trench warfare. Bruce Rawlings appeared to be restoring Wentworth’s former sense of promise, just missing a decent chance following a countering move, but this led to James’ second. A high through-ball fell to Offord, who ran down the right flank, into the box, and finished from an extremely acute angle inside the near post. James were suddenly looking more confident by far, and it showed immediately after the kick-off, Offord rattling the bar with a deflected drive. James, however, had smelt blood, and were not to be denied. Wentworth failed to deal with the resultant corner, and following a round of pinball in the 6-yard box, it was simple for Richard Baxter to put the ball in the net from close range.
More action was soon to follow. Wentworth launched an attack of their own after the kick-off, and a cross from the left wing was adjudged to have been handled. Dom Green stepped up, and blasted the penalty home to make the deficit 3-1. From then on, however, the match was all James. Having dominated in midfield for some time following Wentworth’s goal, Angus O’Brien’s pass inside found Offord in space on the edge of the box. Having assessed his options, the James forward teed himself up, and let fly an unstoppable strike into the roof of the net.
Wentworth were noticeably both disheartened and tiring by this point, and were cruelly punished by the addition of a fifth. It was a simple matter for Offord to complete his hat-trick, the goalkeeper having failed to gather a low crossfield ball into the Wentworth box, and he finished with aplomb into an empty net to end well-deserved victory for James, whose captain Simon Mole hailed his side’s all-round second-half performance after a difficult opening 45 minutes.
Dom Green took the pen, Carl wasnt playing.
Apologies for the error, it’s now been corrected.