Scholars win on the road
CRC recorded their first away victory of the season in the Thurlow Nunn Premier Division on Saturday with an emphatic win in Suffolk.
The Scholars started the game well and passed the ball with a real tempo constantly breaking on to a fragile defence in the early stages.
Woodbridge created themselves three chances in the first half, the best of which being tipped over the bar by keeper Mcnulty. Mark Bonner would've been frustrated by all three opportunities coming from some loose defending by the scholars.
CRC led by two goals at the break, the first goal coming on the half hour mark. George Doyle played the ball along the eighteen yard line and continued his run into the box. Owen Kerwans clever reverse pass fell again to Doyle who passed the ball into the far corner with his left foot.
James Akintunde continued his fine form with another exciting performance and his first goal of the afternoon right on half time. A clever piece of skill from Kerwan saw him jink past two men in the penalty box before firing a ball across the goal for Akintunde to tap home.
The young scholars continued their dominance and control second half and scored a third in the 52nd minute after being gifted the ball from the Woodbridge goal keeper who attempted to pass the ball out from the back. George Doyle intercepted the pass and went through to strike at goal. The ball was saved and fell to Ellis Lentell to smash home to give the visitors a three goal advantage.
Woodbridge then had a ten minute spell in which they converted a tap in from a corner kick to give themselves a lifeline, but the goal just kick started CRC again to finish the game off.
A glut of chances and counter attacks went begging as they tried to further extend the lead and Matt Lowe added a fourth with ten minutes to go before Akintunde grabbed another four minutes from time. There was still time for Lentell to rattle the crossbar in injury time, but five was the final number and CRC bounced back convincingly from the midweek defeat against Ely City.
Mark Bonner commented, "We were dominant and in control and were well worthy of the win. We could in fact have won by a bigger margin. The biggest threat against us today was ourselves, and we allowed them a little too much space in the first half. When we passed the ball with an urgency and attacked the heart of their side we looked dangerous. We were wasteful in the final third on a few occasions and the players commented on that themselves afterwards.
It was important to bounce back after a difficult result on Wednesday, to claim a first away win, and to be positive in our approach. We now have a tough week with Godmanchester and Brightlingsea within a few days of each other. We will get a good idea of where we're at and how we're looking after these games but I'm really pleased with how we've been playing. I'm also excited because I know how much room for improvement there is."
Team: McNulty, North, Heath, Hancock, Burns (Joynes 55), Horne, Kerwan, Lowe, Akintunde, Doyle (Cook 60), Lentell