A sunny Sunday morning saw BAGS take on Caterham Pumas on their home turf for an 11.40 kick-off, BAGS had beaten them 5-1 at home just the month before.

It was the first time for most of us at Joliffe Playing fields and a quite a few either struggled to find it or parking was a challenge so the boys didn’t get the usual 30 minute warm up before the game. Lack of warm up did not impact them at all though and a crisp move down the right by Joe & Brayden after being released by Caleb saw Joe slot the ball home with barely a minute on the clock. An explosive start from BAGS which is something we do not see regularly enough as it quite often takes them a while to find their stride. The passing was crisp and the movement was intelligent and the boys came close to scoring again when Caleb released Harry down the left whose cross was headed just over by Joe. BAGS didn’t have to wait long to get the 2nd though after Caleb was awarded a free kick after being upended a few feet outside the Caterham box. He dusted himself down and unleashed a terrific shot over the defenders in to the top corner of the Caterham net, keeper had no chance. Caleb was involved in BAGS next chance combining well with Joe but the effort struck the post. On 11 minutes Caleb was played through and was clear in the Caterham box but his effort was superbly saved by the Caterham (reserve) keeper. For all the great play and chances BAGS 3rd goal actually came from a mistake at the back by Caterham which saw the keeper lose grip of the ball which squirmed over the line after hitting the post. Our stand in keeper William who hadn’t had much to do was called in to action late in the half after Caterham fired in a free-kick that looked to be heading in but Will got his finger tips to it to deflect the ball on to the bar. 3-0 at half-time and the boys looked comfortable.

Second half was more of the same and the scoring was opened by Joe who smashed a belter past the Caterham keeper from outside the box. There were some dangerous moments for BAGS over the next 10 minutes, although they were playing the better football and Caterham were very much relying on the ball over the top they managed to hit the post and the bar, considering that they had hit the woodwork 3 times they may have felt a little aggrieved to be 4 goals behind. James had been working hard (as always) up and down the right wing all game and was continuously dribbling the ball dangerously in to the Caterham box. It was one of these runs that almost produced goal number 5, this time it was a run to the byline and a great cut-back but it bobbled horribly in front of the striker and the ball was sliced over. BAGS goal to make it 5-0 was again a little unfortunate for the Caterham team, a shot hit the Caterham keeper square in the face and saw him out of action, the referee didn’t stop the play (potentially didn’t see it – he was 81 you know) and Joe tucked the ball home a couple of seconds later for his hat-trick. Jacob had also been working hard and as well as supplying some decent passes was also showing his tricks (one particular step-over and cut back in the first half was just excellent and had half the crowd sent the wrong way, let alone the Caterham defender). It was a combination of James and Jacob that produced BAGS 6th – James once again breaking down the wing and pulling the ball back for Jacob to finish confidently with his weaker foot. Caterham managed to pull one back after BAGS were bullied out of possession in their own half and our keeper could do nothing to stop the shot. There was still time for BAGS to register one more goal before the final whistle when George was put through by another smart pass from Jacob and he produced such a calm finish bending the ball passed the diving hand of the Caterham keeper. 7-1 the final result and a great performance from the boys, one of the best this season.

Man of the Match: Jacob
Scorers: Joe (3), Caleb, Jacob, George, OG