Chester Nomads Colts 0 v 3 AFC Waverton Wasps

Chester & District League (11 September 2011)

Waverton Scorers (season's total in brackets)

Sam Jones  -  1 (6)

Alex Abraham  -  1 (1)

Robbie Foster  -  1 (1)

Report

At a windy (as usual) Garrison Ground, Waverton turned in a fairly subdued performance, lacking some of their early season fireworks, but it was still comfortably enough to earn them a clear victory against Nomads Colts to maintain their 100% start to the season.

After a fairly flat start to the first half, it was Colts who had the first couple of chances, with Jack Powell, playing in an unusual striking role, breaking away from the Wasps defence a couple of times but not able to convert either of the chances. Nomads Colts are a big competitive team and their style of play is effective in counteracting the Waverton passing game, and so it proved for the remainder of the first half. Although Waverton started to dominate the game in terms of possession they really only created a few half chances, and it wasn't surprising to see the game reach the half time break goalless.

A calm half time talk from the Coaches just advised Waverton to keep believing, and showed confidence that continuing to build patiently would eventually be rewarded. This proved to be exactly the case ten minutes into the second half when a reverse ball from Sam Jones was met with a powerful volley by Alex Abraham, overlapping from full back, and although the Colts keeper parried it if fell back into the net to finally break the deadlock. Five minutes later it was 2-0, with the Colts keeper mishitting a clearance from outside the box which unfortunately (for him!) went straight to Sam Jones, who calmly lifted it back over him from 35 yards into the empty net, ensuring he has his usual "bragging rights" at school this week!

From that point on, both sides seemed to accept that the game was largely over as a contest, and (spoilt partly by the wind) the match went into another quiet spell. Waverton's dominance was probably worth more than a two goal advantage however, so a third goal was no more than they deserved as Robbie Foster met an Aaron Hassall cross with five minutes remaining to make it 3-0 to the visitors at the final whistle. Good solid performances all round across the 16 man squad (with Charlie Jones making his competitive debut), but a few performances were picked out for MoM awards. The Coaches went for Robbie Foster, for another battling performance, and Alex Wilkinson, for some top quality passing, while the Supporters acknowledged two of the defenders who helped keep a clean sheet, Cameron Faulkner, who balanced solid defending with a lot of good work down the right, and Jordan Coxall, for stopping Jack Powell's impact on the game.

Next up it's Upton on Wednesday night. Probably too early in the season to be talking "title deciders", but whoever comes out on top in this game will have a big psychological advantage for the remainder of the campaign.