This week saw the OA Sunday Reserve team face local rivals Leigh Town in a pre season friendly match at Dootsons Park with the team securing an astonishing 8-0 win.

Manager James Cain had a squad of 20 players to choose from and named the following starting 11 in a 4-2-3-1 formation -

Ant Hart
Mitchell Starkie
Karl Janion
Josh Cheston
Jamie Roe
Ben Shiel (c)
Daniel Cusick
Joe Fairhurst
Cameron Knowles
Calum Fairhurst
Oliver Parkinson

The game started well for East Leigh with some early chances created by the midfield combining and Cameron Knowles through on goal within the first 10 minutes for a couple of shots on target which were straight at the opposition keeper and easily saved. There were opportunities for Oliver Parkinson also but no goals came to fruition.

The opening goal came in the 17th minute with a long range effort from Calum Fairhurst finding the back of the net.

In a dominating display, the midfield of Ben, Daniel, Calum, Joe & Cameron were afforded the opportunity to pass it around with a solid defensive shape in front of goalkeeper Ant Hart giving the midfield the confidence to attack forward, Leigh Town offered little resistance. Calum Fairhurst scored the second goal in the 27th minute with a combination that saw him receive a pass on the edge of the area and curl another long range effort into the top corner.

Oliver Parkinson got the rewards for his efforts pressing the opposition defence by bundling in the third goal from close range on the 30th minute.

The latter stages of the first half were coming to a close when East Leigh were awarded a corner, expertly taken by Ben Shiel and lead to a rare goal for Centre Back Josh Cheston on the 42 minute mark. Josh got up at the back post and arrowed a header goalward to bring the score to 4-0 at half time.

Half time saw a flurry of changes by manager James Cain.....

Jake Picking on in goal for Ant Hart who moved to play AML for the 2nd half
Nathan Wood replaced Mitch Starkie at RB
Andrew Wilson replaced Karl Janion at CB
Nick Cookson replaced Josh Cheston at CB
Mitch Williams replaced Jamie Roe at LB
Lee Glover replaced Daniel Cusick at CDM
Oliver Clark replaced Ben Shiel at CDM
James Cain replaced Cam Knowles at AM
Lewis Atwood replaced Oliver Parkinson at ST

The second half started off as the first half ended with lot's of midfield pressure forcing the opposition into errors. Ant Hart was dominating the left side and combined well with Joe Fairhurst at CAM who had taken the armband from Ben and grew 5 feet to really come into the game. Fairhurst was rewarded for his effort with a goal on the 55th minute after combining with Lee Glover for a through pass and a cool finish.

Leigh Town did have a few chances in the second half with a couple of shots firing wide after great defending from our solid back line.

Jake Picking had very little to do until the 65th minute when an opposition player was clean through for an opportunity to score. Jake closed down and spread his body wide to deny the Leigh Town striker a clear goal scoring opportunity with the lads on the sidelines cheering Jake's save and giving him confidence in his abilities.

Lewis Atwood got on the scoresheet on the 70th minute with an assist from Nathan Wood on the right hand side, Lewis was pressurizing the opposition defence with intense closing down which ultimately lead to them losing possession, falling to Nathan to pass through to Lewis with a finish in the bottom corner to take the score to 6-0.

The goalscoring continued 5 minutes later as Joe Fairhurst got his second of the match and the 7th overall for East Leigh with a bobbled effort from a corner being turned in at the back post.

With 10 minutes to go in the game, James Cain wanted to come away with a clean sheet and so brought Ben Shiel, Jamie Roe and Mitch Starkie back on for some fresh legs in the defence and midfield plus Oliver Parkinson up front for Lewis who had run his engine into the ground for the team and Joe Fairhurst making way for Calum Fairhurst to try and get his hat trick from CAM.

A stand out performance by team captain Ben Shiel was topped off with a great individual goal in the 89th minute, picking the ball up on the edge of the opposition box on the left before cutting to the right and firing an unstoppable shot into the top right hand corner of the goal to really seal an emphatic win for East Leigh.

Manager James Cain commented after the game -

"Today was about getting some minutes in the legs of the lads as we continue our busy pre season schedule. Last week's defeat was a tough one to take as we didn't impose ourselves in the game but I am pleased with this week's performance and to have the goals spread out through the team highlights the quality we have in this squad. The clean sheet is a particular highlight, I know the defenders take great pride in that too."

Onwards to next week for East Leigh as they travel the short distance to Marsh Playing Fields to face Bond Street Reserves at 11am.