Charterhouse 3 Ardingly 0

Charterhouse 3 Ardingly 0

 

Charterhouse continued their recent run of good form on Saturday with a comprehensive victory over a lively and very capable Ardingly side.

The visitors came with a good reputation and several good scalps under their belts; they had also beaten Charterhouse in the ISFA Six-a-Side tournament at the start of the season.

However, the home team was determined not to allow them to settle into any sort of rhythm and completely dominated the first half. For thirty-five minutes it looked as though they were going to reap little reward for that domination, but the game changed in the five minutes before half time. Firstly, a dangerous Charlie Evans free kick was turned against the crossbar by the Ardingly goalkeeper. Jack Ryder-Smith reacted fastest but his goalbound attempt was blocked. Still the Sussex team could not clear the danger and Jack Kelleher was on hand to prod home from close range.

Two minutes later a muffed clearance from the hapless Ardingly goalkeeper fell to Kelleher and he doubled the school’s lead with a sweetly struck volley from thirty yards which flew over the keeper’s head before he had time to recover his ground.

Ardingly came out buzzing after half time: a snap shot within seconds of the restart flew just wide and then Michael Manby was called on to make a sharp save low to his right. The ball rebounded straight to an Ardingly striker but he was unable to control his shot and it went harmlessly wide. Up to the hour mark the game remained very even and it was clear that the next goal would be very important. It looked as though Julian Hornby might be about to supply that goal after 62 minutes as he wriggled through the visitor’ defence. As he was about to pull the trigger, Tom Bray whipped the ball off his toe and the Ardingly ‘keeper had to react very sharply to palm the shot away for a corner.

Four minutes later a deft through ball from Harry Walford escaped both the Ardingly central defender and his goalkeeper and fell to Hornby. There was still work to do but the diminutive striker was coolness personified as he beat a desperate defender and stroked the ball home.

With the job done, Charterhouse created several opportunities to put the icing on the cake but were unable to take them.

Nevertheless, this was another impressive performance built around a very solid defence and some determined tackling in midfield. The ball is moved swiftly and with increasing accuracy and a tenth victory in the season means that the Charterhouse team of 2008 has continued and enhanced the reputation that the school has for producing successful sides.

 

Bob Noble