Beer Albion Reserves (sponsored by Edenvale Turf) continued their impressive home form with an exhilarating 6-1 win against Newton St Cyres last Saturday writes Richard Honnor.Before the game, St Cyres sat in 2nd place in the Division 3 table but the young Fishermen have beaten all the top sides bar one this season on their own turf and the visitors had no answer to the power and pace of Beer’s outstanding central striker, Taylor Rooke, who scored two goals and was instrumental in three of the others.
After an evenly contested opening to the game, Beer took the lead on 22 minutes when Rooke got behind the Newton St Cyres defence close to half way. He advanced goalward and shrugged off a strong challenge in the penalty box to place the ball perfectlyinto the right corner as the St Cyres’ keeper came off his line. 11 minutes later, Beer went 2-0 ahead when keeper Henry Bartlett’s long clearance found Rooke who ran on to score again with another fine finish. This was his 26th goal of the season!
St Cyres came at Beer strongly after the break and an athletic goal line clearance from midfielder Kyle Gould prevented the visitors from reducing the arrears. With three strong running forward players, St Cyres always looked dangerous on the break but the Beer defence, with centre back Fraser Beaumont prominent, handled the threat well.
After Tom Vincent put the Fishermen 3-0 ahead on 53 minutes, again resulting from a long through pass, Beer moved the ball around with increasing fluency. In particular, midfielder Gould took the eye with his work rate and incisive passing, setting up numerous attacks down the left flank.
The Fishermen scored their fourth goal when Rooke again got behind St Cyres’ flat back line down the left and pulled the ball back to Simon Smith who picked his spot from 12 yards.
The visitors continued to threaten on the break and should have scored on 62 minutes after a superb passing move split the home defence wide open but their striker missed the target from six yards out with just keeper Bartlett to beat. Then St Cyres playmaker Jamie Farrell volleyed a left wing cross from 15 yards on target, but was thwarted by a fine save from Bartlett.
But the goals continued to flow at regular intervals and Gould scored Beer’s fifth goal on 77 minutes when Rooke’s clever dummy inside the box created the space for the young midfielder to place his finish past the keeper’s left hand.
St Cyres scored a deserved consolation goal on 79 minutes, but substitute Billy Long nailed the 6-1 win on 87 minutes with a cool finish from 12 yards out after yet another assist from Rooke.
Match sponsor Norman Lambert had no hesitation in endorsing Rooke as man-of-the-match. Although well beaten, Newton St Cyres contributed to an entertaining spectacle and their midfielder Jamie Farrell gave an impressive display.
Next Saturday Beer Albion 1st’s are back in Furzebrake action after their narrow 2-1 defeat at Exmouth Town last Saturday. They entertain Heavitree United at 3pm, and the match sponsor is Fred Hansford Ltd.