The Allstars beat the Phoenix is an exciting end-to-end encounter which finished 5-3.
The goals started early, with a sweeping move by the Allstars, shifting the ball from left flank to right, and a perfect low cross from Durrant found Medley who finished nicely past Greg in goal.
Allstars were on top in the early exchanges, with Botterill, Medley and Mitchell shining particularly well in the first half.
20 mins in, another attack by Allstars down the right, culminating in a good cross by Durrant found Ricky on the penalty spot who slotted home, coolly.
Credit to Phoenix they bounced back fast.
The battle in midfield intensified led by Emms, and Bolu particularly.
And it was Hannah who made a nuisance of himself from a corner, that created confusion amongst the Stars defence, and the ball dropped nicely for him to finish into an empty net.
2-1
However the come back did not last long, as a stonking strike from Chittenden 35 yards out, dipping and curling toward the goal, found the cross bar, only for the ball to rebound perfectly to Botterill who passed it into the net, giving the stars a 3-1 lead.
Typical of the Allstars season so far, the speed of their counter attack stunned Phoenix when Ricky, and Botterill broke sending Medley through onto a one on one and he finished convincingly.
4-1
Phoenix bounced back yet again, after some lax defending by the Stars, and a Hannah shot was stopped by Glyn on the line, but it fell to Bolu who tapped home into an empty net.
4-2 HT and the Phoenix could only go one direction.
And improve they did.
Some nice interchanging between Bolu and Jamie Paley upfront, caused the Stars back four problems. And 5 minutes later, they capitalised on some laughable clearances (or there lack of), and a fine shot from Paley, beat his dad in goal, but hit the post from 12 yards. The rebound was finished off yet again by Bolu to bring the deficit to only one.
Exciting stuff – game on.
20 minutes passed – with both sides going all out attack. It was end to end stuff – and the next goal was going to decide it.
Paley came close with a header for Phoenix, and some interesting refereeing by the infamous Tony could have evened things up with a penalty decision – but it wasn’t to be for Phoenix.
It was a shame that some bad defending by Phoenix let Medley in to a one on one, which he bulleted home to give him his hatrick and finish the game off
5-3.
An exciting match to watch and a fine warm up for the all important matches coming up in January. Well done all.
Lets hope, in fact lets ensure that is the worst defending of the season by both sides.
The Allstars now lead 3-1 in the Gower Cup. Phoenix have to wait to the end of the season for payback.
MOTM Phoenix = Emms / Bolu
MOTM Allstars = Mitchell /Medley
