A rare Phil Groves goal was the highlight as seemingly unstoppable Moulton Harrox romped to a 7-0 win over Uppingham Town in the ChromaSport PDFL Premier Division on Saturday.
Doubles from top scorer Ollie Maltby and captain Billy King set unbeaten Moulton on their way to a 23rd league win from 24 matches at Broad Lane, while Ben Allen and Joe Townsend also notched.
But it was the seventh goal, a superbly-struck Groves penalty, which had Harrox boss Dave Panton waxing lyrical. The boss said: “I’m absolutely over the moon for Phil.
“All season he has been flying up and down the flank from full-back, setting up goal after goal.
“Considering we’ve scored over 100 goals, I’m really pleased he got on the scoresheet with an unstoppable penalty – I don’t think two keepers in the goal would have stopped it.
“When all of the lads celebrated with Phil it showed the great team spirit in the camp.
“Billy (King) was on a hat-trick and showed a bit of class to give Phil the opportunity to break his duck.”
On a windy afternoon Moulton started the better, dominating possession.
The Uppingham keeper made a couple of great saves, but they soon began to slow the game down to a virtual halt every time the ball went out of play.
However, Moulton soon struck to open the scoring. A bit of possession football provided the breakthrough as a fierce shot from Townsend was deflected into the goal by Maltby.
Leading marksman Maltby then got another ten minutes later following great work by Guy Mantle, before Townsend got in on the act with a goal of his own before half time.
Frustrated Uppingham were reduced to ten men early in the second half, before skipper King buried two fine goals to take the score to 5-0.
A Ben Allen belter, which ended his mini-drought, took the score to six, before Groves stepped up to rifle his brilliant penalty into the top corner to round off the rout.
The victory keeps Moulton in firm command at the top of the table – a position they enhanced by beating AFC Stanground 4-0 on Tuesday night.
Harrox: Kenealy, Groves, Johnson, Patterson, Coddington, King, Watkin (Law), Mantle, Allen, Townsend, Maltby (Bradbury).
