Assistant manager Matthew Cawthorn helped himself to four goals in Long Sutton Athletic’s 6-1 demolition of Peterborough ICA Sports Reserves on Saturday (Aug 22).
Sutton missed a host of chances in the first 15 minutes and could have put the ChromaSport Peterborough League Division One match out of sight. But they also had to do some stout defending from a succession of free kicks and corners.
The first goal came midway through the first half when Cawthorn picked up a loose ball to fire over the keeper’s head.
Cawthorn caused all sorts of trouble in the second half. He scored his second from a well worked move involving Samuel Moses, and then rounded the keeper, only to be brought down.
The keeper was sent off for a second yellow card, and Cawthorn duly despatched the penalty to complete his hat-trick.
He then capitalised on a defensive error to muscle his way in for his fourth of the afternoon.
The other goals came from hard working and talented youngsters James Ward and Jonathan Allen.
ICA got a consolation goal with a stunning 25-yard strike from their left-back.
Sutton centre-back Robert Ward was outstanding and only missed out on the man-of-the-match award due to Cawthorn’s haul.
Last Wednesday (Aug 12) manager Danny Goddard took his side to face his former team Moulton Harrox Reserves – and came away with a 4-0 win.
His 17-year-old son Dominic grabbed a hat-trick in a fine win.
The game started frantically and the Sutton keeper had to make a fine double save early on.
It stayed tight until a long diagonal ball from James Ward found Goddard jnr, who raced into the opposition box, nut-megged a defender and smashed home a low drive.
It became 2-0 when a lovely ball down the line was latched onto by winger Samuel Moses, who also hit a low drive only to send the ball spinning up and over the goalkeeper .
Sutton came out even more hungry in the second half.
It was Goddard again at the centre of things, pressuring a Moulton centre-half, stealing the ball from him and flicking it over the onrushing keeper .
Then came a stunning the finale from Goddard. He latched on to another great ball, looked left to where he had two or three options for a pass but – egged on by people in the crowd – fired a 25-yard screamer in off the underside of the bar.
Wayne Congreve was a rock against his former team, only to be edged out of the man-of-the-match award by the heroics of young Goddard.