The usual Casuals writer of match reports is currently balls deep in bagels over NYC (which is not very deep for him). He will be back rolling around on the pitch next week and back on his reporting responsibilities then. Anyway… Casuals lined up with a strong team against Hibs on Friday night. Determined and focused to win knowing the 3 points would take us up a couple of positions in the league. The bottom line was that it was a must win game. The gaffer instructed the boy’s to start with high intensity and we quickly took an early lead. Dyno missed a sitter of a header, but immediately after, Nick scored after just 4mins in, slotting it past the keeper. The 2nd Goal came from Greg our left back on the day scuffing/whipping the ball in from a corner, barely getting it off the ground to the front post. This was unusual for Greg who normally only passes the ball by lumping it as high off the ground as he can. The corner came in and eluded everyone in the box, skipping across the six yard box and was tapped in by Joe. 3rd Goal made it 3-0. Frustration started to kick in a little with Hibs who had moments of pressure down the left wing, 4 free kicks in row put a bit of pressure on the Casuals but Sanders who had another solid performance had impeccable handling once again to thwart any danger. The fourth was a brilliant team goal and an even better finish. After a little bit of possession at the back the ball was sent down the line to Will who was back after 4 months off from a breast feeding marathon. Will looked up and crossed the ball in first time with a lot of pace then Verrill did his best Alan Shearer impression to rocket a diving header into the top corner. Absolute Peach! 5th Goal made it 5-0. Half Time:- Casuals were buzzing, a solid performance. Same again in the 2nd half was the instructions and keep a clean sheet. 6th Goal - and ultimately the goal that Sherwin said we need to aim for, to really kill the game off. Dyno picked up the ball 30 yards out and ran through a couple of players, including a cheeky nutmeg, then squared the ball across the 6 yard for Joe to tap in for his hatrick. 7th Goal. Callum who had put dangerous balls in the box all day curled in the corner which hit the inside of the back post, hit the Hibs defender in the face and went in off the goalie. Amazingly Will made it through 70mins of this game without a booking, fatherhood has made him soft. Great seeing him back on the pitch along with Steady who warmed up thoroughly for 70mins and didn’t get injured after playing the last 20mins. First clean sheet of the season for Casuals, I’d like to say that our strikers Joe and Nick who both bagged hatricks today were clinical, however it must be said that Joe could have had at least 5 or 6 today. Still not a bad return! MOM is yours this week but very good all round performance by everyone. Thanks to the Hibs for battling on through the injuries, MOM goes to Joey who came off injured and then went back on again. Great commitment! All the best for the rest of the season.
After 5 minutes Hibs conceded the first goal which came from a few individual errors and after this goals kept coming. Loads of energy from the Casuals put pressure on the back four and we struggled to string two passes together the whole game. Casuals' striker caused all sorts of problems and 5-0 at half-time seemed fair. We changed to a tighter formation, realising we did not have the together squad to match casuals on this day. 2 more goals went in but on a lighter note 5-6 players had beers at the end of the game which was nice. A well-deserved win for Casual.