Old Parkonians 3 - 0 Winchmore Hill (Southern Amateur League)

A well deserved home victory on Saturday at Oakfield, by a reshaped Old Parkonians 1st team, leaves them placed fourth in the SAL Divisin 2 table. Looking to bounce back from a disappointing semi-final defeat last week, Parks were forced to make 3 changes as a flu bug ravaged the top sides in the club.

Parks were out of the blocks very quickly, and had the better of the midfield exchanges. With Jamieson, Mason and Knapman pulling the strings, Parks were pushing back their visitors at every opoortunity and were playing some sharp football in the middle of the park. The first real chance of the game fell to Parks, and it was Kuforiji racing onto a Jamieson through ball that saw Parks take the lead. Kuforiji rounded the Winchmore keeper, only to have his legs taken away from beneath him. Knapman dispatched the resulting penalty with aplomb, and the keeper could consider himself lucky that his yellow card was not another colour.

Parks built on this lead and could have doubled their advantage before the half, Pascoe and Kuforiji putting in a huge amount of work upfront to give the Winchmore defence no time to settle.

Parks started the second half in much the same vein as the first, and when Keogh won the ball at the back, and fed Knapman, Parks saw another flowing move come to fruition. Knapman's drive down the left touchline was picked up by Pascoe, whose driving run and cross saw a Wichmore defender slice the ball past his own keeper, under heavy pressure from Kuforiji. Two minutes later and the game was over as a contest. A Cunane run inside from the left flank saw him round three players before he was fouled a full twenty five yards out. Mason placed the ball, and duly brilliantly dispatched the free kick into the keepers' top left hand corner.

Three goals in front, Parks sat back and drew Winchmore Hill onto them, looking to use their pace to strike on the counter. Kuforiji latched onto a short back pass, but was hauled down before he could finish. Parks looked very solid, with Gaughan, Kenny and Keogh breaking anything down that the visitors could put together. Late into the game, Parks' keeper Turner was determined to keep his clean sheet intact, and spectacularly clawed the ball out of the top corner from a Wichmore header.

All in all, a very dominant team performance by Parks, who look to continue this form into the end of the season.

Parks travel to Old Finchleains this Saturday in a Division 2 league game - 3pm KO.

Scorers: Knapman, OG, Mason
Man of the Match: Knapman
Team: Turner, Kenny, Gaughan, Keogh, Mason, Kemp, Jamieson, Cunane, Knapman, Kuforiji, Pascoe.

Report by TC