Norton Athletic Reserves 7 AFC Oulton 1

After 3 successive losses Norton were looking for victory to put a firm hold on 3rd place and the boys delivered with a scintillating display of attacking football as they dominated the game from start to finish to complete a 7-1 league double this season.

Norton got on the front foot from the first whistle, and it was clear early on, that the pace of the Norton front 3 would cause all sorts of problems for a static AFC defence.

The first chance of note arrived on 14 minutes as Jake Rose burst clear, but dragged his across the face of goal however in a similar move just two minutes later it was 1-0 as Jake fired in of the far post.

The lead was doubled on 29 minutes as James Hardy fired home down the middle and on 35 minutes Adam Orme added a third with a strike from the edge of the area.

A good first half ended with a 4th goal again scored by Rose as he showed some skill in the area to meg a defender twice before slotting home.

Second half continued in the same vein and on 55 minutes Rose added his 3rd to make it 5-0, this being Jakes 20th goal of a good season.
5 minutes later and it was 6-0 with Hardy adding to his tally firing in after Alex Cornels shot was saved.

Norton continued to dominate and were rotating the subs regularly and on 72 minutes James Hardy saw his shot blocked, but Adam Orme was on hand to knock in the lose ball for his second of the game to make it 7-0.

With the light fading fast, a foul on the edge of the area allowed AFC to score a consolation goal placing a free kick low into the corner but Norton were deserved winners in the end.

The ASAMS MoM goes to Jake Rose but in truth this was an excellent team performance.

With Caxton Reserves losing at home to Lowestoft Town, Norton hold a 5-point lead and need to avoid defeat to Caxton on Saturday in order to claim that 3rd place finish.