OS Football Win!

26 September 2015

Old Stoics 4 - Old Chigwellians 0 

The Old Stoics opened their 2015-2016 campaign with a visit to Chigwell in deepest Essex. This fixture was a tricky given Stoics' reluctance to leave the comfort zone of SW or W London allied to the fact Stowe had found Chigwell something of a bogey team having failed to beat them in their four previous clashes. However, the men in yellow and blue resoundingly put that statistical quirk to bed with probably their best ever performance to romp out winners by four goals to nil. The fact that this was all done with only 10 men after a no show from Hugo "Priory" Empson made the result ever more satisfying. 

Harry Benyon was skipper with James Robson away sunning himself in Mallorca but Stowe were able to enjoy some autumnal sun themselves in perfect conditions on a pitch used by Leyton Orient for training. This allowed the Old Stoics to play the short passing brand of football that has often drawn praise from oppositions, if not always yielded the right results with it. However, the midfield axis of Dom Farr, Alex Jollivet and the Benyon brothers were soon linking up neatly and depriving Chigwell of any meaningful possession. 

A fairly even opening quarter of an hour ended with Stowe taking the lead through the younger Benyon, Thomas. A corner, won by Jollivet, was not dealt with properly by the home defence and the ball fell to the ginger brother who fired low and through the bodies to leave the keeper grasping at fresh air. 

An outside observer would have struggled to realise that it was Stowe who were playing with one man fewer with their defence having very little to trouble them but just before the interval Chigwell had a rare passage of pressure. First an inswinging corner was palmed away well by last season's player of the year, Mark Thompson-Royds, and he followed that up with another finger tip flick over the bar as a cross-cum-shot threatened to float in. With these two alarms extinguished, Stowe went into the break holding on to that all important lead. 

The concern surely would be that Stowe would tire in the second half and allow a Chigwell side, who in contrast had three substitutes to utilize, back into the game. However, Stowe seemed to find another gear after the break with Farr again at the heart of every move and controlling the tempo of the match expertly. Whilst the away side were adept at finding a teammate, even when under considerable pressure, Chigwellians seemed unable to successfully complete even the most straightforward of passes, much to the ever increasing frustration of their team.  

Both Benyons were looking constant and menacing outlets down their respective flanks, ably supported by their wingbacks of Harry Wolrige-Gordon and Hamish Eggins, who arguably had his best game in a Stowe shirt. One such move down the left resulted in a corner, won by Jollivet, and Jamie Hirsch whipped in the ball perfectly towards the far post where striker Jamie Hirst was presented with the simplest of headers to double Stowe's advantage, which he duly completed. Hirst was then to go on to score his second and the team's third when harrying from the aptly named Harry Benyon panicked Chigwell into giving the ball away in a dangerous spot and Hirst was able to drive straight at goal before slotting home with their keeper bizarrely choosing to use his legs not his hands to try and repel the ball. Hirst backed up his two goals with an excellent and tireless shift up front on his own, holding the ball up well and using his energy sensibly to put the Chigwell defence under constant pressure to leave all those playing wondering if we ever need a second striker, certainly the conclusion was that we are clearly better off without Empson.  

With Chigwell detoriating and starting to shout at one another, Thomas Benyon was able to add further gloss to Stowe's victory as he was played in with time on the right edge of the box and he duly despatched the ball into the opposite corner to complete an excellent personal display. So the Old Stoics walked off with three points in the bag, plus a good early boost to their goal difference, with Chigwell raving about the quality of Stowe's passing and movement.

The ideal start to the season and next up is Old Cholmeleians away this Saturday.

Rupert Rowling (Cobham 05)

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