Playford 23-0 Landguard Rovers

It was a Sunday morning full of surprises, We had the returns to the fortress of Playford alumni such as Ben Thomas aka ‘Rusty’ and George Godbold as well another return of youth academy prospect Rhys Youngs, the surprises didn’t stop there though, the 23-0 scoreline was a shock, but only over shadowed by that of a hattrick from Player-Manager Chris Smith.

Before we get into the full game analysis, Playford as a club wanted to pay massive respect to the 12 Landguard Rovers players who played, while the scoreline and the heat grew they played for the full 90 and earned our respect, we wish them all the best for the rest of the season.

Following on from our 5-2 win the week before Chris and the management team named a fairly unchanged 11, Andy started in goal, a back 4 of Jez, Hunty, Luke and Cam provided the basis for the team to keep their first clean sheet of the season, looking to build on the heroics of last season, Josh, Chris and skipper Dan made up a midfield 3, with Kingy playing a more advanced left wing role through the absence of Luke Coates. Hattrick Hero from the week before Daryl Francis started up top with Ben Williamson on the right.

This unchanged team started pretty much where they left off, Kingy rushed through in goal early on to be denied by the Rovers goalkeeper, the deadlock was eventually broken after 9 minutes, after some lovely work on the left by Kingy before he squared it to Captain Dan for the first goal of the match. The game was put out of sight on the 11th minute when Kingy once again providing an assist for Ben Williamson to notch home again with a tidy finish. With the clock on 18 minutes Daryl assisted Kingy who was able to cap off a fantastic start to his game with a goal and surely put the game beyond doubt. 2 minutes later Playford added a 4th, Gaffer Chris was able
to feed the ball through for the man in form Daryl who finished emphatically, this capped off a wonderful weekend for Daryl, he celebrated his 10 year anniversary of his business Francis interior, which surely now will increase the workload for him after a shoutout in the match report, you’re welcome.

The fun didn’t stop there though, as 30 minutes in Dan had the ball, the shock on his face as Josh made a run beyond him didn’t distract him from playing an inch perfect pass into the path of Josh who cut in and bent one superbly over the keeper and right down the middle of the goal, this was met by pure disbelief from playford players, none more so than kingy who not only believed the keeper should of saved it, but caught it. A blink and you’ll miss it kind of moment happened pretty much straight from their kick off, as not even 60 seconds later Ben laid into the Gaffer who done the rest and made it 6-0 after 31 minutes.

A seventh Goal of the game was added on the 37th minute as Jez revived the ball on the half turn, slotted in the gaffer who calmly dispatched for his second of the game, 2 Minutes later Daryl added his second of the game and 5th of the season as he was on the end of a Kingy pass and confidently tucked the ball home. The playford intensity didn’t let off there, on the 42nd minute the gaffer was able to complete his hattrick, Kingy was at the heart of the move again picking up another assist as we made it 9-0 before half time.

The 45th minute couldn’t come soon enough for Landguard Rovers as their ultras tried to rally them on, they watched as Ben added his 2nd of the game off a wonderful assist from Josh who played the ball through for Ben to round the keeper and tuck into a empty net. 2 minutes later the scoring for the half was finally complete, Playford had scored 11 in the first half and this one was emphatically finished off by the man in form up top, Daryl added his third of the game after another Kingy assist, this goal means Daryl has now netted back to back hattricks and is now looking to make playford history if he can bag another at the weekend.

The final whistle went for half time and you would of been forgiven for thinking Landguard Rovers had jacked it in, they went back to the changing rooms for what I can only imagine was a very stern telling of by their ultras, begrudgingly they came back out for the second half, which we have massive respect for as they didn’t give up and continued to give 100% to a game seemingly over at this point.

Playford made 5 changes at half time Josh, Kingy, Daryl, Dan and Chris all came off to be replaced by Jordan, Sticks, Will and the returning pair of Rhys and Rusty, this didn’t change Playfords as intensity as we looked to add to our goal difference, 2 minutes after the interval Luke rolled the ball to Ben who again finished to complete his hattrick and our third hattrick of the game. Exactly a minute later Rhys got himself a goal to mark his return to the team after a very tidy move, Sticks found Rhys who put the ball away for Playfords 13th.

A 2 minute double quickly followed for Jordan as on the 52nd minute he latched on the another Luke Mallett pass and finished confidently, and 2 minutes later was gifted the ball from their goal kick to score his second and Playfords 15th. Ben wasn’t finished there and added his 4th goal of the game on 63 minutes, following in from a Rusty shot which struck the post, 2 minutes later the Rovers left back seemingly unimpressed by the 4 goals Ben had scored from right wing, dispatched a header back across his own goal and into the bottom corner, this was Playfords 17th and unfortunately for Landguard the team were not letting up. 2 minutes later Will Gill found himself on the scoresheet after another fine assist from Luke, who unfortunately had to go off shortly after this, we hope he’s back for our next fixture as he’s started the season very well. Playford were guilty of squandering some big chances, the captain leading by example seemingly forgetting we had a comfortable lead, took the chance to reintegrate Rhys back into the team, questioning whether he was worthy of being re-signed by the club. Youngster Rhys took it well, unlike Rusty’s finishing, as he found the time to miss 3 golden chances”

On the 75th minute we paid a first visit of the season to the dubious goals panel, Sticks very confidently claimed this one, the subs and soldout fans doubted it, but after much deliberation, the ultras of Godbold and Grant decided to let Sticks have his moment, Cam providing the assist with a terrific cross from the left hand side. The scoring still had not finished, Playford legend Jez added our 20th after 83 minutes after some fine work down the left by opposite full back Cam. Rhys was at it again exactly a minute later, Jez turned provider this time and Rhys provided the finish. This made the score an emphatic 21-0 at the time. On the 88th minute we got to see a moment of sheer quality from Will Gill as he chested down a lobbed pass and dinked the onrushing keeper, the celebration followed showed Will had all the athleticism of a young man, despite what you’ve seen about his age on the website, if he has individual brilliance like this we may get to see some more Team GB like gymnastics from Will this season. The scoring was finally completed on the 89th minute as Jordan was able to complete his hattrick, Rhys providing the assist and that goal saw playford score 23, which is the biggest win in the clubs history.


A fine performance all round from the team with various different goalscorers and a clean sheet for Andy in goal, playford carry on their 100% start to the season and look forward to a cup tie next week against Gardeners Arms who are also currently 2 wins from 2!