STC vs Barnet & Southgate College

St Charles moved into the last 32 of the AoC national cup with a resounding 8-1 win over Barnet & Southgate college - amazingly our third 8-1 victory in a row. 

The game saw a fast paced start with both teams having half chances to take the lead, but it was STC who would take control of the game, the front three of Nick Tavares, Chase Hunte-Jones and Rivaldo Murray were at their electrifying best, their power, pace and tenacity in and out of possession caused the Barnet back line all sorts of problems and it was no surprise when STC scored two quick fire goals both coming from Hunte-Jones. This early period also saw Ivan Martins whip a wonderful free kick into the top right hand corner only to see the visiting keeper claw it away magnificently for a corner. The game was not all one way traffic and we had to defend well on several occasions with Chinedu Odiari and Gianni Simpson-Telfer standing tall and marshalling our backline well. Odiari was also a threat at the other end when a bullet header from an Ayub Hassan corner thunder against the Barnet cross bar. In what was now turning into an end to end thriller, we saw keeper Leon Agani save a Barnet penalty low to his right, then make a fantastic save from the headed rebound before that man Odiari clear off the line to preserve our two goal lead. Just before the end of the half two became three when  a lung busting run from Rivaldo saw him charge down the visiting goalkeeper, the rebound fell kindly and he had the easiest of tasks of rolling the ball into the empty net. 

The second half saw STC go through the gears and convincingly win the half, scoring a further 5 goals and also have the luxury of seeing a penalty of our own saved. Our goals in the second half came from 3 more from Hunte-Jones, one for substitute Filip Grahovac and a lovely team goal that was neatly finished by the impressive Dorell Murray. There was time for Barnet to pull a goal back with a good free kick that Agani got fingertips to but could nt keep out, but this was mere consolation. 

Final score: 8-1 

Goals: Hunte-Jones (5), R.Murray, Grahovac & D.Murray

Man of the Match: Chase Hunte-Jones

Skipper on the day Ayub Hassan had the following to say at full time: I think this was our best performance of the season, we played as a team, worked hard on the basics, and got our rewards. I don't think anyone had a bad game. 

Coach Banks was similar in his assessment - I thought this was a real squad performance; Chase will get the headlines for 5 goals but there was a lot of top performances and moments where individuals stood up and were counted. I was really pleased with Filip and Leslie coming off the bench and having such positive impacts on the game, this shows the depth we are building in the squad. Well done to all 16 involved. 

Today's win sets up a long last 32 trip to Gorleston-on-sea where we will take on East Norfolk college