The rain thundered down on our unfamiliar surface that is 3G at Plymstock School with the rain putting the grass out of bounds….

The lads seemed keen and there was lots of chat in the group about how they wanted a win and how they needed to pay back the management team for their poor showings… the lads did deliver but not before giving the gaffer a stressful morning.

We kicked off with energy, quickly taking control of the game and creating 2 quick chances, Inter Plymouth put all their men behind the ball, they were hard to break down and we couldn’t show anything in the final 3rd. The gaffer was shouting instructions, getting more and more animated as the time ticked on. Finally, the breakthrough came as a little bit of individual effort kicked off the game, Brad Thomas took on 5 players and continued his run into the box, slotted home and made it 1-0

As we searched for more we quickly won two corners, the first being pushed away, the 2nd yielded a goal mouth scramble, Ben Ozanne snap kicked the ball straight into the middle of the goal 2-0
Half time came, it was 2-0 against a team who really didn’t have anything to offer, but we made life difficult for ourselves, they were good at putting men behind the ball, but offered little in attack. We chatted at halftime about continuing to fight for every ball and close our opponents down.

David Barrowdale made it 3-0 after 50 minutes after some neat work down the left – slotted home and remained on fire for the rest of the game, tricky and quick and gave their RB a lot to deal with.
We pushed for more set pieces and won a decisive corner, up popped Ben Ozanne again with a point-blank strike to make it 4-0 with that man again Barrowdale assisting. We started to look good with some smooth football and some decent passing, on Came Dan Phipps on the wing to add some extra energy with some neat work to start off a move that ended with another goal, Connor McHale this time assisting the on-rushing Brad Thomas to make it 5-0.

The football slowed down, we took our foot of the gas and allowed Inter to move forward, with confidence they scored a quick goal which seemed to catch us off guard…. A mistake and some flapping at the back, perhaps lack of communication they score 2 quick goals. The gaffer was not pleased – we looked like we were starting to fade…. At 5-2 we looked like it was going to be one of those days, Inter being more confident and searching for their next goal, however we quickly took advantage of their high line and it was Dan Waldron of all people that scored a lovely weighted goal from the right wing, it thundered into the net and the lad was clearly delighted. 6-2

From here on in it was simple , the job was almost done and we exploited their high line, we created a few more chances, Grant Birkett came on for his debut to sit in Midfield and just win the stray balls, we pressured down the left hand side and Sam Royal put in a glorious ball to the front post only for their defender to turn it into his own net! 7-2

85 mins gone we just had to be professional and see the game out, we were not finished Connor Mchale with some neat play set up David Barowdale who nestled the ball into the net to make the final score 8-2

They were a tough team to break down – sometimes its hard to play a team who have ill-discipline and they made it difficult, the gaffer wasn’t happy until the final whistle and was very proud we got the job done!

Up to 4th in the league as so far not a bad effort. We’re starting to enjoy the football.

Man of the Match David Barrowdale for his continued tenacity – Up the Crusaders