Sunninhill Progress In Inter-Divisional Cup
Today Sunninghill saw off a spirited display from Wheatsheaf Res to progress to the next round of the Inter-Divisional cup with a comfortable 6-0 win, the tone was set when Clinton Harcup showed his intent starting the game with a 3-4-3 formation, Stuart Hallt made his second appearance for the team in a centre midfield role alongside Parker, Zutshi and Underwood provided the width to a front 3 of Charlie Harcup, Jon Bennett and Tim Finch.
The game could not have began in a better fashion as Bennett was fouled within the first minuted 35 yards from goal and Clinton Harcups delivery was met by Parker who looped his header over the stranded keeper, and it was nearly 2-0 soon after when a Bennett free kick was just the wrong side of the left hand post, however this seemed to relax the side a bit to much scoring so early, and the tempo dropped resulting in Wheatsheaf able to compete in the game and nearly equalised when a cross from the right was heading to the top corner via clinton harcups boot only for Reagan to get across to make a superb reaction save tipping the ball wide.
This was enough for Clinton Harcup who changed back to a more familiar 4-4-2 formation with the team looking more comfortable and soon after it was 2-0 when a long throw caused some problems and was returned into the area for Parker to control and drill a ball across goal to Bennett who diverted the ball into the far corner.
The rest of the half was scrappy being played out in the middle of the boggy pitch, Reagan was forced into a couple more saves as Wheatsheaf started to try and throw more players forward, but the closest they came was a shot from 20 yards that the keeper was able to tip the ball past the post.
Half time came and the team realised that they would have to work harder all over the pitch and try to keep hold of the ball better, chances were hard to come by for the opening 15 minutes of the second half as the final ball was just lacking, and on the hour the disappointing Underwood was replaced by Ali Azarian, the away side were still well in control of the game but just failing to kill the opposition off who seemed to get more confident the longer the scores remained 2-0, and it took until the 75th minute when the game was sealed as a long throw from Clinton Harcup was headed goalwards by captain Dan Parker with the ball taking an unfortunate deflection off the Wheatsheaf centre half and into the net past the despairing keeper.
Now the game was won the side relaxed and started to knock the ball around confidently and were denied a penalty when the referee decided that a push on Finch as he was about to head goalwards was not a foul, while minutes later a free kick was awarded for a similar offence to the home side, thie was wasted and with it went Wheatsheafs last chance to affect the scoresheet as they had not been given a lot by the solid back line of Zutshi, Gurr, Clinton and Rob Harcup.
On 81 minutes the score was 4-0 when Bennett picked up the ball off Hallt inside his own half before setting off beating 4 Wheatsheaf players before firing past the keeper for his second, and 5 minutes later the striker had his hat trick when Charlie Harcup showed good pace to beat his man, and round the keeper who caught him in the process, the winger managed to stay on his feet and square the ball ahead of Bennett arriving late but there was time for him to control the ball, cut inside the covering defender and fire inside the near post.
And with virtually the last kick of the game Charlie Harcup got the goal his hard work deserved when Bennett was played in via a superb through ball from Hallt, the ball was squared towards Zutshi and as the full back challenged for the ball on the line it rebounded to Finch who cut back into the path of Charlie Harcup to rifle a superb effort high into the net from 16 yards.
In the end a very comfortable win when we never got going, and most importantly we were able to shake off the christmas cobwebs after a month out and progress to the next round.
Player Ratings
Chris Reagan - 8 - Some superb saves when called on, otherwise marshalled defence well.
Jai Zutshi - 7 - Got stronger the longer the game went on, got forward well and almost capped performance with a goal.
Clinton Harcup - 7 - Organised defence well and set pieces caused plenty of problems.
Rob Harcup - 7 - Solid on the deck didnt let anything pass, and looked to build play from the back.
Jonty Gurr - 7 - Impressed at left back and didnt give his opposite number anything during the 90 minutes.
Charlie Harcup - 7 - Worked hard on the right and never gave, capped with fine striker for 6th goal.
Dan Parker - 8 - Controlled the middle of the park and capped with 2 headed goals.
Stuart Hallt - 7 - Solid alongside Parker in the middle, always on top in physical battle and looked to play on the deck.
Toby Underwood - 5 - Never really got going, failed to make an impact before being substituted.
Tim Finch - 6 - Worked hard and physical presence caused problems, but failed to penetrate back line.
Jon Bennett - 9 - Started off fairly quietly but took goals well when chances came and became more active as game went on.
