There was no danger of an ‘After the Lord Mayors Show’ performance as Michael Dunwell shuffled his pack a little, bringing in Adam Nicholson for Dale Mulligan to continue his rehabilitation and Chris Stockton for Jimmy Ward with James Risbrough moving to left back. With plenty of games coming up and the prospect of a Vase last 16 tie everyone is on thier toes. This game was pretty much over after 25mins as the Anchors established a decent lead and it was a credit to both sides that they kept going and produced a decent, albeit pretty one sided match.
The anchors dominated early possession as Washington sat back and tried to take the sting out of them, however the ever dangerous Kevin HAYES was allowed to collect the ball and set himself, fatal error, he skipped inside the full back and jinked into the box, hitting a sweet left foot shot into the far corner on 5 minutes, 3 minutes later and Owens slipped a lovely weighted pass to Woodhouse who beat the offside trap and crossed to see defender GIBBON turn the ball into his own net at the near post. Washington were shocked into action and PICKARD headed home a free kick far too easily, 15 minutes gone and we’d had three goals. Nathan MULLIGAN latched onto a clearance and volleyed home from the edge of the box Washington keeper Gladstone will be dissapointed with his attempt to save it. Jamie OWENS capitalised on a terrible mix up in Washingtons defence as they tried to play it out from the back inside their own box for 4-1 and it was OWENS again on hand to finish and make it 5-1 on the stroke of half time and as they say if it had been a fight the Ref would have stopped it.
Washington striker PICKFORD got the second half off to a flyer with a lovely curling shot into the top corner leaving keeper Jordan no chance and for a few minutes it looked like the we’re going to rally. The Anchors regained the upper hand and Chris STOCKTON took advantage of a slack piece of play by Chimbonda to fire home on 59mins. To make matters worse Washington’s Karim got a red card for a terrible challenge on Stockton and the rest of the game saw them sit back to limit space and let the Anchors pass it about. Sonni COLEMAN made it 7-2 with a neat finish on 80 minutes and that was the end of the goals.
This ended up a routine victory for Stockton aided by some poor defending by Washington who remained game for the whole match to their credit. Stockton face a tough week now with 3 important games and will be without suspended Nathan Mulligan and Kevin Hayes.
