BUCS South Eastern Conference Men’s 2A
Wednesday 4th November

The UPFC Men’s 1st team continued their fine form in cup and league with a comfortable 5-0 win over Royal Holloway 1st team. Following our great start to the league campaign, confidence was high although the players knew that this could potentially be a tricky game if we weren’t focused and didn’t carry the same mentality in previous games out perfect record could become history.

Tom Lloyd announced the team and then a good warm up took place, with Tom Lloyd quizzing the players on their own individual jobs to make sure everyone knew what was expected of them.

The game kicked off and immediately Pompey started well with good passing and link up play and immediately Holloway were on the back front. Within the first ten minutes we took the lead with great play from Matt Barker driving into the opposition half, sliding through a clever ball to Matt Parsons who timed his run perfectly and with a massive deflection from his shot somehow found the net .This goal settled Pompey down and the confidence grew even more, everyone wanted the ball and soon after the second goal arrived. Great work down the right from Richard Maltby overlapping Josh Warren to get on the ball down the right wing, his cross was perfect for Andy Younie who controlled it and with great composure slotted the ball pass the keeper for 2-0.

Pompey had settled into their usual passing game making the opposition change the ball, we already knew the game was won, our passing was flawless and there was good link up play between the midfield and strikers that was causing Holloway lots of problems. The next goal came from good build up play down the left hand side, Michael Dunnet played a great channel line ball, who found Josh Warren who cut inside and shot from just outside the box and found the top corner making it 3-0 Pompey.

The defence was keeping any threat that Holloway had at bay and the game was all being played in the Brighton half. Pompey were starting to get a lot of corners and with Josh Warren’s delivery perfect Kieron Lewis and Ryan Duffy were becoming ever closer to opening their accounts for today.

As the first half was coming to end there were already some performances to shout about, Dan Cox and Matt Barker’s work rate and ball play was excellent, James potton’s creativity in and round the box was making life difficult for Holloway’s defence and Michael Asare who came on for the injured Matt Parsons was showing the local crowd his outrageous ball dribbling capabilities. The half time whistle went and Pompey were very satisfied with their performance a comfortable 3-0 lead and lots of positives to take from it. At half time Tom Lloyd decided to bring on fresh legs with Tom agate replacing Dan Cox in the heart of midfield.

The second half began much like the first with Pompey in control, passing the ball well and making Holloway work very hard to get it back.

Pompey were hungry for more goals and after 20 minutes of the second half the goal arrived, a mix up in the Holloway midfield allowed Michael Asare to steal the ball and play a perfect through ball for Andy Younie who passed the ball across to James Potton who had the simple task of passing the ball into the empty net.

Fewer chances were created in the second half with Pompey dictating from the back and soaking up any pressure Holloway through at them.

Pompey finally got there last goal with great play down the right hand side with Richard Maltby receiving the switch pass from Kieron Lewis, who drove pass the Holloway left winger who found Josh Warren on the touch line, who crossed the ball to Andy Younie and with great individual skill, swivelled and found the bottom corner.

The final whistle went and another very good performance from Pompey, Scoring Five goals and keeping another clean sheet and more importantly staying top of the league with an important away trip to fellow leaders Sussex next week.