Cropredy Devs 6-1 Chesterton Res

Cropredy Development made it 3 wins on the bounce as they overcame a resilient Chesterton Res side on a blustery Saturday afternoon at Williamscot Road. Leo Beales was the star of the show with a hattrick, Kyran Beales and a Alfie Jarvis brace also seeing Crop to victory.
Despite ltos of rain over night and the morning of the game, the pitch held up well, and come kick off the sun was out, and it was a lovely afternoon for football.

After the recent good form, Manager Reading made just the one change to the side, with Kyran Beales given his opportunity from the start after some good appearances from the bench, he replaced Alfie Jarvis.

The game started with Chesterton having more of the play, and they could have had an early lead, but ‘keeper Connor Wolstenholme was to thank for keeping it level, and he superbly saved a one on one.

The first goal of the game came on 26 minutes, and it was the home side who took the lead. Some good build up play, saw Leo Beales find a yard, then slide a ball through to Kyran Beales who finished calmly past the outrushing keeper to get his 4th in the last 3 games

The goal settled Crop down, and they begin to play some neat football, and doubled there lead on 33’. The referee played a good advantage as Samasa was chopped down out wide, which allowed Ash Balfour to pick a pass from just inside the half to find Leo Beales who’d made a great dart forward, and he finished into the corner to double the score line.

Chesterton began to get frustrated and were giving away plenty of silly fouls and began arguing amongst themselves. On the stroke of the interval, the home side made it 3. A throw in out right, found Mike Harding in the middle who heard and great call from Leo Beales. Harding played a blind pass to find Beales, who done the rest himself, beating a couple of defenders before slotting home to make it 3-0.

Half time – Cropredy Development 3-0 Chesterton Res

Despite the score line, Chesterton came out and were determined to make a real game of it, and again it was back and forth for the early exchanges. Neither side were able to find a goal until the hour mark, when Cheserton got themselves a lifeline, as substitute Adrian Voinea struck a swerving effort from 30 yards which deceived the home stopper and flew into the top corner. 3-1.

Although this gave the away side hope, Crop began to play their football again and creating chances. Jarvis, Harvey & Liam Squirrell were all introduced in quick succession to help see the game through, and Jarvis would go on to make a positive impact.

Striker Jarvis, who himself has been in good recent form, won Cropredy a penalty on 70 minutes. He worked hard down the left hand flank, getting past one defender before tangling with another. Looked a slightly soft penalty that could have gone either way. Leo Beales stepped up, and fired home for his hattrick. The keeper did get a hand on it but too much pace for him to keep out.

Cropredy managed the rest of the game efficiently, and 4-1 might have been a more reflective score of the game, but they would go on to score more goals with Alfie Jarvis grabbing a late brace. His first came on 89’. After some good work down the right, Joe Squirrell unselfishly squared to Jarvis to tap home. He then scored another a minute later, after some good work from Samasa down the left, Jarvis then fired into the corner from the edge of the area.

Full Time – Cropredy Development 6-1 Chesterton Reserves

Cropredy managed the game well, and came through some tough periods of the game. Once again it was a good defensively display, with some really well taken goals, and another team performance.

The news of another national lockdown, that looks to have curtailed grassroots football again for another 4 weeks, comes at a bad time for Crop who have just started to get a settled side together and were in some good form.

Man of the match – Leo Beales
After his hattrick, Beales has now scored 10 in just 9 games from midfield, alongside 10 assists! He’s always involved in everything going forward for Crop, and has become such a vital part of the team. Another solid game from the playmaker.

#UpTheCrop