Match Report: Gower Phoenix – 6 Clissold Thistle – 0

On a muddy pitch in overcast conditions Gower delivered a thoroughly professional performance to see off Thistle and continue their team development. The Wormwood pitches showed signs of the recent weeks rainstorms and both goal mouths and the centre circle were mud baths before kick-off, they would be considerably worse by the end of the 90.

Gower lined up in a classic 4-4-2, with round pegs in round holes: Rod-Dens,Wall,Treen,Sam -Sumner,Nick,Adam (making his first appearance in the coveted Gower maroon),Freedman -Muffdog,Fleshie. Yet due to navigation issues Gower were to play the first fifteen minutes without Freedman. In pre-match talks we agreed as a team to start off the game in a higher gear and avoid going behind. Enough said, 2 minutes in Adam shot from 20 yards, it took a Lampard deflection and was in. 1-0 Gower.

Despite slow play in the boggy middle, Gowers used the flanks to push forward and five minutes later a long Sumner throw from the left was coolly finished by Fleshie to make it 2-0. Freedman’s arrival then took some pressure off Sam on the right; Sam managed to cover himself with mud by the end of the first minute, his love for slide tackling once again the main cause.

Thistle were by no means a bad team (see White Heat Boggles), but Gower were working hard as a team and pressing all over the pitch. Muffdog chased down the goalkeeper who spilled a scuffed shot allowing the hard-working forward to nip in to make it 3-0.

The men of the Phoenix were also proving confident in turning defence into attack. Towards the end of the first half a corner was cleared and a swift counter-attack saw Muffdog play in Dens to power into the box and finish strongly at the near post. 4-0 half time.

After half time oranges the team pledged to keep focus and continue to develop good habits, playing against the wind on a deteriorating pitch though meant it was hard slog. We pushed forward well and were unlikely not to finish more of the chances we carved out. Fleshie got his second ten minutes in converted in midair from a Freedman cross from the right. Then cue the Treeno show, first another counterattack saw Dens play the blond Marcel in directly in front on an open goal from 3 yards – miss. He retreated sheepishly back to the defence, before seizing an opportunity out of nothing to twist and turn his way around the back of Thistle’s defence before cutting back and unleashing a chip-drive from 10 yards out. Goal of the day and 6-0 it finished, a slick, professional, no-nonsense performance.

MOTM: Nick Thompson – The ball winner in the physically kinetic centre of the park. Won most headers, tackled like a wolverine on heat and linked play well. A driving performance.