FC Armley went into their game yesterday with FC Retailers still unbeaten in the league and looking to extend on that, writes Dan Thomas.
FC Retailers were still looking for their first win and with a bad record at home, the lads were looking to increase their goal difference.
The game started with chances for both teams, but FC Armley came close on a number of occasions with attacking football.
On the 16th minute FC Armley picked up the ball and played it forward for Eddie Griffin to run into space and place a shot past the ‘keeper.
FC Retailers created a few chances but could not find the target and never really challenged the Armley defence.
A few minutes later and with some great attacking football, Haydn Bowler found him self through on goal and calmly slotted it past the keeper to make it 2-0 to FC Armley.
That was it, the tempo had seemed to change and FC Armley were playing better football. Only a couple of minutes later Haydn Bowler added to his tally in the game with another strong run in behind the defence.
It was now 3-0 to Armley with only 28 minutes played.
FC Armley continued pressing and Dan Thomas had a couple of chances to extend the lead but could not find the net.
On the 43rd minute the ball come across the edge of the box and Dan Thomas was their to meet it and hit it first time passed the keeper to make it 4-0.
The half-time whistle was blown.
A change was made at half time to pave way for Druhvin Shah to come on. He replaced Brandon Fowles in left midfield.
FC Armley started the second half a lot stronger with some fantastic passing. A couple of chances came close to extend the lead.
Another substitution was made on 55 minutes and Dan Thomas came off to allow Rowan Parry to make his debut.
Seconds later, Eddie Griffin picked up the ball and ran into the box, with players calling for a pass, he danced past two or three players and confidently shot into the back of the net. 5-0 Armley
Five more minutes passed and again Haydn Bowler found himself on the score sheet giving him a hat trick and making the score 6-0 to FC Armley.
The good passing continued with a number of players coming close to scoring.
Another couple of substitutions were made and Matt Pierre gave way for Joe Barker, followed by Eddie Griffin coming off for Bart.
On the 70th Minute Haydn picked up the ball on the left, beat a player and ran into the box one on one with keeper and placed his shot into the bottom corner. He had now scored four in this game and extended his tally to 12 goals in six games.
Carl McGuigan ended the scoring for FC Armley with a well-taken strike making it 8-0.
FC Armley’s defence was very strong , hardly troubled by FC Retailers at all, and Pawel was given man of the match with a very strong display at centre back, giving FC Armley their first clean sheet of the season so far.
Manager’s comment
FC Armley manager Harley Hirst said after the game:
“I’m delighted with the performance today, we set out a game plan and stuck to it, having to wait no more than 18 minutes for a goal at any point during the game shows our complete dominance in the fixture. And to keep a clean sheet is the icing on the cake!”
FC Armley’s next game is at home on Sunday, 16th October, with a kick-off time of 11am. It is against Wortley Knights in a cup game.
We look forward to seeing as many supporters as possible.