Rampant Common hit six in first half

Liam Ward scored his first Little Common goal in the 6-1 thrashing of Oakwood.

The Macron Store Southern Combination Football League Division One leaders opened up a 6-0 lead by half time en route to a 6-1 defeat of Oakwood yesterday (Saturday).

The Commoners welcomed back Jamie Fielding, Bradley Pritchard and player/manager Russell Eldridge to the starting XI and were in ruthless form before the break.

Jamie Crone struck first, volleying home Lewis Hole’s flick after just eight minutes. One minute later Common doubled their lead when Sam Ellis released Pritchard in the right-hand side of the area and he drilled an effort across the goalkeeper into the far corner of the net.

The visitors almost pulled a goal back following confusion between Fielding and Matt Cruttwell, but the latter scrambled back to retrieve the ball before it crossed the line.

Hole grabbed Common’s third in the 29th minute. A slip in the Oakwood defence saw the ball fall invitingly to Hole, who turned and rifled an effort beyond the goalkeeper for his 20th goal already this season.

A neat one-two in the area ended with Ellis clipping the ball past the goalkeeper, but it was cleared to safety before Hole could get on the end of it.

Another well-worked move led to the fourth goal. Ellis pulled the ball back to Harry Saville, who was upended as his goalbound effort was blocked on the line. The referee pointed to the spot and Eldridge stroked home the penalty.

The fifth goal arrived courtesy of Liam Ward. Ellis once again pulled the ball back following a run into the area and Ward’s effort looped into the roof of the net for his first Common goal.

Common were still not finished and capped a fine first half when Ellis cut in from the left to fire home number six just before the interval.

Common failed to find the same level of performance in the second half and it was the visitors who started the brighter, although Crone did see an effort blocked and a Fielding header hit the outside of the post.

Oakwood pulled a goal back from a corner and could have added a second as an effort was blazed wide when through on goal.

At the other end, Jordan Harley forced the Oakwood goalkeeper into a smart save in what was a pretty uneventful second period.

Common: Cruttwell, Harley, Parsons, Ward (Smith), Fielding, Eldridge (McEniry), Saville, Prichard, Hole (Maynard), Crone, Ellis.