Sholing4 0Amesbury

Scorers : TJ Cuthbertson 19, Dan Mason 39 & 50, Marv McLean 62

Date : Tuesday 20th February 2018 7:45pm - Sydenhams Wessex Premier

Venue : Universal Stadium

Sholing : Ryan Gosney, Owen Roundell, Owen Royl, Alex Sawyer, Dan Miller, Jamie Bulpitt, TJ Cuthbertson, Byron Mason [c] (Jake Hoole 83), Dan Mason (Marlon Mason 67), Lee Wort, Marv McLean.  Subs not used : Jack Smith, Kevin Brewster, Jamie Bray

Yellow Card : Lee Wort

Amesbury Town : Paddy Crease, Matt Sherfield, Archie Johnson, Emmanuel Adepitan, George Higgins, Connor Palmer, Cameron Roach, Kieran Stephens [c] (Kieran Edwards 61), Jake Allen, Luke Greenaway, Sam Mattherws (Sam Charles 70) Subs not used: Ryan Elliott, Gareth Horner, Liam Gavin

Yellow Card : George Higgins, Cameron Roach

Attendance : 58

Man of the Match : Marv McLean

Referee : Alex Lewis  Assistants : David Morey & Ben Cripps

Sholing hit 4 for the second successive game by defeating Amesbury Town at the Universal Stadium.  The Boatmen clocked up their 100th goal in all competitions and 21st clean sheet of the season as they carried on from Saturday by once again scoring some spectacular goals.

Team News : Jack Smith was struggling with a knock from Saturday, so Jamie Bulpitt replaced him in the starting line-up. Owen Roundell also came in for a start at the expense of Pete Castle.

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The temperature was dropping fast on the back of a gusty wind from the north as the game kicked off in front of an unusually sparse & quiet crowd at the Universal Stadium. There wasn't much action to warm the spectators in the opening exchanges until Sholing took the lead on 19 minutes.  A right wing corner by Alex Sawyer picked out Dan Miller, whose header seem to surprise the keeper, bouncing off his chest and down to TJ CUTHBERTSON, who showed good awareness to hook the ball back over his shoulder, over the keeper and into the net to make it 2 in 2 games for him.

Amesbury tried their luck with a shot from distance almost straight from the re-start, but it went wide.  Their best chance to score came when a cross from the right picked out an unmarked player in front of goal, but he couldn't sort out his legs and missed the ball alltogether.

Boatmen were denied by several very close offside calls, but on 39 minutes grabbed their second with a very familiar goal. It was a trademark finish by DAN MASON, who received an Alex Sawyer freekick from midfield into his feet just inside the penalty area, held off the defender, turned him and smashed a shot across the diving keeper and into the far corner.   Sholing thought they had a third as Lee Wort ran through and poked the ball through the keeper's legs, but once again, the linesman had deemed it offside.  HT 2-0

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Sholing were fast out the blocks from the restart, now with the strong wind at their backs attacking the Clubhouse end. Within the space of a minute, two good chances fell to Alex Sawyer & Lee Wort but both hit their efforts straight at the keeper when well placed. 

On 50 mins, Amesbury were denied a goal by a brilliant reaction save by Ryan Gosney, who threw out his right arm to beat away a flicked effort from close range, which in turn set Sholing away to score our 3rd goal.  Byron Mason did well in midfield to release TJ on the overlap and his drilled cross was palmed by Paddy Crease into the path of the arriving DAN MASON, who reacted quickly with a diving header to score his 21st goal of the season and 5th against Amesbury.

Lee Wort was stretching the Amesbury defence time and again and came very close to a deserved goal, but the keeper did well to tip his shot just round the post when it looked to be going in.  Crease in goal, was diving full length again a minute later, but this time he could do nothing to stop an absolute beauty of a goal by MARV MCLEAN.  TJ pinged a crossfield ball from right to left to pick out Marv, who cut past a defender and from just inside the area let fly with a right foot curling shot that bent inside the far post. 

Sholing eased off a bit for the final 20 minutes, but still looked like they could score more, with Lee Wort going close and TJ smashing a 20 yard shot just wide.  Amesbury kept plugging away, but the Boatmen defence were in no mood to concede, with some well time blocks and tackles by Miller, Roundell & Royl meaning it was clean sheet number 21 of this season as the final whistle blew. FT 4-0

Next Game : Sholing v Bemerton Heath - Saturday 3pm - Wessex Premier

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