Wendron Utd 4, Dobwalls 2

TWO first half goals from Jack Stocker laid the foundations for this SWPL Division 1 West victory on an immaculate playing surface at Underlane on Saturday.

Neither side produced a defensive master class, but there was plenty of endeavour and Wendron’s midfield quality proved to be the difference on the day.

Dobwalls had a couple of early sniffs of goal – firstly Sonny Dover shot over before Nick Aplin sliced his volley a mile wide with only keeper Ben Mitchell to beat.

The hosts opened the scoring in the 23rd minute – the first of three goals in a frantic six-minute spell.

Stocker was on hand to apply the finish inside the far post after the ball had bounced around in the penalty area.

Ryan Oxley’s deep cross then bounced off the crossbar at the other end, before Stocker’s second goal was almost a carbon copy of the first, when Chris Mulroy’s cross was headed back across goal by Andreas Callenja for Stocker to convert.

Just a minute later a free kick from the left by Max Gilbert eluded keeper Mitchell at the back post and Curtis Kearney had a simple header into the empty net.

A lovely dink from Stocker almost teed up Charlie Clarke in the final seconds of the first half, but keeper Jamie Blatchford raced off his line to smother his effort.

Three minutes after the break Wendron restored their two-goal advantage when Stocker broke into the penalty area on the right hand side and his low cross to the back post was tucked away by Mulroy.

As in the first half though, the deficit was halved almost immediately when Angus Jole hammered a shot off the underside of the bar and into the net.

Five minutes later Tom Langford was tripped in the area but from the resultant penalty, Mulroy’s shot hit the foot of the right hand post.

With 15 minutes to go the hosts scored a telling fourth goal when good work by Stocker and Mulroy on the right enabled the latter to cross for Luke Appleton to nip in at the near post and convert from close range.

Centre half Adam Soloman was sent off for a second bookable offence with time running out and any lingering concerns of another Dobwalls comeback were ended.

Wendron: B Mitchell, J Chapman, M Larcombe, A Peters, J Webb, L Appleton, T Langford, J Stocker, C Clarke, A Callenja, C Mulroy. Subs: R Carroll, P Crawley, J Moseley, M O’Neill.

Packet Pick: Jack Stocker – Two goals, an assist and responsible for the game’s best moments of quality