FREELAND ROMP PAST RIVALS

Eynsham Res 1 - 5 Freeland Res

On a hot sunny day more suited to cricket Freeland made the trip across the A40 for this Clarendon Cup Quarter Final against local rivals Eynsham in front of a capacity crowd. Freelands squad oozed class with the likes of Matty Longford and Dale Kardos only being able to get a place on the five man strong bench.

Freeland came out of the block at 100 mph, dominating Eynsham in every area of the pitch. The home sides make shift keeper Ben Clifton looked like conceding at most attacks. Front men Ben Whos Ya Mate Glastonbury and Paul Salter were linking up well and causing the home defence lots of problems, and veteran defender Jon Muttock was booked inside ten minutes for hauling down Glastonbury. The burly front man then returned the favour with a late lunging tackle and was lucky not to be booked himself.

" It was only a matter of time before Freeland opened the scoring "

It was only a matter of time before Freeland opened the scoring, and it came as no surprise when top scorer Salter fired them ahead, after Glastonbury saw his shot rebound off the post. Eynsham were being totally out classed and were posing no threat at all. It came as no surprise when they doubled the lead when Salter grabbed his eighteenth goal of a fruitful season when he outpaced the static Eynsham defence before calmly slotting home.

Five minutes later, and against the run of play Eynsham at clawed a goal back thanks to an own goal, when unopposed form a corner classy centre back Andy Salkeld opened his Freeland account with a bullet header from eight yards. This just spurred the Freeland beast on and they were unlucky not to grab a third when defender Sam Symonds spanked a free kick against the Eynsham stanchion from thirty yards with Ben Clifton rooted to the spot.

Midfielder Tom Mason scored Freelands third just before half time with a collectors item header from six yards which he fantastically guided into the corner of the net.

"striker Glastonbury, whos debut season at the club has been blighted by injuries, opened his account"

Freeland started the second half as they had left off, bombarding the Eynsham goal, both Kardos and AJ Longford having long range shots just sailing past the post. Freelands strike force continued to cause Eynsham problems, and striker Glastonbury, whos debut season at the club has been blighted by injuries, opened his account when he scrambled the ball over the line after some good work from Scroggs on the Freeland left.

Eynsham were now resigned to defeat and looked tired and uninterested, midfielder Glossop let his frustrations boil over and tried to argue and moan at any Freeland player within five yards of him, this led to Freeland taking their foot of the pedal and seemed content just to keep possession and let Eynsham do the running in the sunny humid conditions.

Freeland defender Symonds again hit the bar with a free kick from long range, and the rebound was bundled away by a ragged Eynsham defence. Eynshams only real chance came when Freeland had committed men forward and were caught on the counter and Craig Freeman saw his long range shot rebound off both posts.

"footballing masterclass"

Scoroggs was deservedly next on the score sheet when he scored a great goal, curling the ball past an outstretched keeper from an acute angle to seal the win and book Freeland a place in the semis. This topped off a great day for Freeland and the crowd left having seen their local rivals given a footballing masterclass.

***TICKET NEWS*** Next weekends games at The Simon Hole Memorial Ground and Elms Road are both SOLD OUT, but you can still catch the action as Freeland A take on Carteton A live on Setanta Sports and Freeland Reserves host Marston Saints Reserves live on Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports HD ***TICKET NEWS***