Town singing in the rain as goals pour in!

Town made two changes from last week’s victory at Old Woodstock Town. Sam Barham replaced Michael Alleyne in centre midfield whilst Seun Odusanya came into the side in place of Lemar Maycock.

In a quiet opening ten minutes the visitors cleared an Adam Cashin-Murray free kick by the corner flag after a foul on Odusanya. The hosts were having more of the ball but no chances were being created. Town's first chance fell to David Stevens, his shot from twenty yards missed to the right after a long spell of Woodley possession. Moment’s later Cookham goalie Aaron Moore was off his line quickly to get to a Barham chipped through ball ahead of Doug Groves.

Eighteen minutes in and the away side created their first chance. A Pav Bhangoo effort was tamely struck at Dan Smith and easily saved by the Town keeper before Woodley captain Gary Smith headed clear a deep free kick. Continuing to press Ian Henry saw his shot go over from the right side of the eighteen yard box.

Twenty five minutes gone and Cashin-Murray was booked for dissent. Woodley then had a host of half chances, all of which were blocked by the Cookham defence. Firstly a Stevens’s free kick was kept out by the wall, the rebound fell to Barham but the visiting defence recovered well to charge down the rebound. Minutes later a body was in the way of a Groves effort after good pressure from the home side.

Woodley continued to push forward with Odusanya shooting from the left side of the box. The strike lacked power and was comfortably saved by Moore. Then a quickly taken Stevens free kick found Steven Campbell, he laid the ball off to Cashin-Murray whose shot was blocked. The ball fell to Campbell but once again the Cookham defence were positioned well to get a block in.

The final chance of the half went to the away side. A free kick on the right by Mark Camp-Overy found Tom South who headed straight at Smith. That bought an end to a goalless half with few clear cut chances.

The second half started with the rain lashing down and the pitch quickly being turned into a bog.

Town made their first change just past the hour mark with Michael Alleyne replacing Sam Barham.

On the sixty fifth minute Town went ahead. A good bit of possession ended with Stevens receiving the ball twenty yards out. The midfielder pulled the trigger and his well struck shot along the greasy surface beat the goalie to his left. Woodley doubled their lead 90 seconds later when a well-placed Steven Campbell effort found the far corner from the right side of the eighteen yard box.

With the conditions getting worse Alleyne put the hosts three ahead when he headed in at the near post following a Steven’s corner. With twenty minutes to go Town made their penultimate change, Craig Cox came on for Groves. This saw Cox go to left back and Matt Molloy push further forward. Town made their final change five minutes later, Peter Wareing replacing Stevens.

Town got their fourth with fourteen minutes left. A nice move down the left saw Molloy play in Cox and his back post cross was turned in by Wearing with a diving header. This was Wareing's first touch of the game and the goal meant that he has now scored for all four of Town's senior teams!

With nine minutes left Cookham were reduced to ten men, Tom South was given his marching orders for a second booking when he bought down Cashin-Murray on the half way line. Town made it five from the resulting free kick. The ball into the box resulted in a goal mouth scramble which the visitors could only clear to Campbell who finished coolly.

D.Smith, Brookling, Molloy, Doe, G. Smith, Barham (Alleyne), Odusanya), Cashin-Murray, Campbell, Stevens, (Wareing), Groves (Cox) Unused subs: Downes, Gonzalez

Manager Damien Marshall gave Gary Smith Man of the Match and said the following - "I thought it was a very lethargic first half from us, we were guilty of playing well below the level we know we can play at. We picked things up after the break and once we got the first goal really displayed a killer instinct and got a deserved win".