Aldershot & Farnham 5, Chichester 2nd XI 1

TABLE-TOPPERS Aldershot & Farnham faced bottom side Chichester seconds at Heath End in Hampshire/Surrey 2 last Saturday and ran out comfortable winners after a workmanlike performance.

Four of the A&F goals came from short-corners, with Scott Perry firing the hosts into the lead after 15 minutes with a drag into the top right corner of the net.

Player-coach Ian Jennings then assumed responsibility and scored the first of his hat-trick of short-corner goals with a firm effort low into the left corner for 2-0.

A&F’s fluidity wasn’t quite there all game and a more patient approach in attack may well have served them better.

That said, they did still fashion a number of opportunities from open play, with Chris Boot in particular creating plenty by drifting around opponents and threading through decisive passes. The Aldershot & Farnham forwards, however, had something of an off-day in front of goal, wasting a lot of chances.

Lewis Bowerman was a threat for A&F pushing forward to weave past opponents, and another outstanding performance from Phil Rushmere in central midfield meant the home side had great control of the match, despite not using the ball as well as they would have liked.

Chichester had hope when they pulled the game back to 2-1 before half time, pouncing on a stray pass in the midfield, with the A&F defence caught off guard.

But the next Jennings goal early in the second half put A&F 3-1 up, and such was their superiority in the game it effectively ended the contest.

Jennings then found himself over a free hit on the right inside the 22. He picked out Rushmere with a square pass to the top right of the circle. Rushmere played a neat ball outside the right post for Jonny Groves to nip in and nudge inside the near post.

With Rob Jervis’ accurate injections and the immaculate stopping from Boot, A&F were able to get a number of threatening short corners away, and with their final one Jennings’ third rounded off proceedings.

Aldershot & Farnham: MacDonald, Hammond, Weston, Bowerman, Boot, Jennings, Jervis, Perry, Rushmere, Metcalfe, Groves, Edwards, Buchanan, Fuentes Moreno.