| Gadeside Rangers made it 14 wins out of fourteen games in the Olympian Premier Division as they thumped 3rd placed Cassiobury Rangers to move just one win away from all but securing that elusive first league title. James Bridges bagged a hat-trick, Dan Campbell continued his extraordinary goalscoring run with a brace while Adam Hills and Tom Oliver were also on the scoresheet. It was also the 8th clean sheet Gadeside have kept in the league - a far cry from keeping just one throughout the whole of last season. |
| With the sun beaming down on the slowly thawing Parmiters pitch - both sides found conditions rather treacherous to begin with and Gadeside were dealt a blow early on when Jay Evans limped off with a tight hamstring. Cassiobury started the better of the two sides with Gadeside looking lacklustre but they should taken the lead on 8 minutes when Tom Shurville played in Adam Hills who beat his marker but dragged his shot wide with just the keeper to beat. The lively home strikers caused problems for the Gadeside defence but failed to make Sam Green in the Gadeside goal work. The deadlock was broken on 19 minutes as Gadeside finally found their passing game. James Bridges and Hills linked up before finding Dan Campbell who turned well before firing a fierce drive home from the edge of the area. The hosts came close to levelling shortly after when a low drive was hacked off the line by Ian Freeman but from that moment on - Gadeside ripped their opponents to shreds. |
| Gadeside are renowned for their pacy counter-attacks and it was this which brought the second goal on the half hour mark. A quick throw clear by Sam Green saw Freeman find Hills - who in turn sent Ivanz Mani clear down the right. Mani then played in Campbell who drew the keeper before squaring to the onrushing James Bridges who rounded off a fabulous team goal. Adam Hills fired over, Bridges headed wide and Campbell saw a goal ruled out for offside as Gadeside began to pile on the pressure. Despite their lead, Gadeside's first half performance had been in fits and starts and Hills demanded more from his players at half-time. He got the reaction he was looking for as Gadeside knocked the ball around with confidence and were rewarded with some excellent goals. The third came on 54 minutes when Ivanz Mani's pinpoint cross was superbly brought down by Adam Hills before he turned and smashed a powerful drive past the keeper. |
| The fourth followed soon after as slick passing saw James Bridges sent through on goal and he cooly slotted past the keeper for his second goal. Gadeside's attacking was almost relentless and it was no surprise when the fifth goal went in. The ever impressive Dan Campbell chased a long pass by Tom Shurville and showed great strength to hold off a defender before crashing a powerful strike across the keeper into the far corner. Gadeside enjoyed a succession of corners and it was from another Mani delivery that led to the sixth goal as Tom Oliver rose like a salmon to head into the net. James Bridges was desperately seeking his hat-trick and should have had it when headed wide, unmarked - from a Campbell cross but he was not to be denied as with time running out he cooly took down a left wing cross and fired a left footed volley past the keeper to round off a great day at the office for Gadeside. As the league now stands, Gadeside need four points to be mathematically certain of winning the title. However, with a goal difference that is nearly 30 goals better than their nearest rivals AFC Rangers, a win next week at home to Colne Valley could be the cause for some celebrations. |
| Said player/manager Adam Hills after the game: "We were sloppy first half and I had some choice words to say at half-time. But as always the attitude was spot on and I got the reaction I wanted in the second half. We're nearly there - next week's game against Colne Valley is massive. |
| Sam Green, Ian Freeman, Jason Brownhill (Daniel Everritt), Matt Evans (Balraj Singh), Tom Oliver, James Bridges, Ivanz Mani, Tom Shurville, Adam Hills, Dan Campbell, Jay Evans (Justyn Walcott) |