Hughes (2)
Brainch (2)
Gordon (1)
Laidler (1)
Ralphs (1)

The Youth team faced bottom of the league Curley Park looking to pick
up their fifth league win in a row against a team who hadn't won all
season.  Manager Tim Hughes was once again forced to make changes,
with Babs Johnson and Richard Brock both unavailable due to work
commitments.  New signing Mark Sutton was not registered in time to
make his debut but was in attendance to watch his new team play. 
Steve Laidler returned to the team after overcoming a back injury, and
Ryan Ralphs joined Jordan Smith on the bench after recovering from a
broken ankle sustained earlier in the season.  Elsewhere Nick Paris
retained his place at centre half partnering Ric Jackson, James Reeves
moved into midfield to play alongside Steve Laidler and Mike Stone was
restored to his usual right wing role.  Liam Gordon returned to take
his place alongside experienced striker Tim Hughes in attack.

The early exchanges were typical of two teams who hadn't played in
over 3 weeks, with many balls not finding their intended recipients
and Curley Park seemed to have the better of things during the opening
10 minutes.  After the Youth started to gel it was not long before the
gulf in class between the teams became evident.  Laids and Reevo
started to control the midfield and the two forwards came into the
game more, enabling Gav and Mikey to exploit space behind the defence.
 It was with the first meaningful attack of the game that the Youth
team scored, a ball played through the defence by Reevo was just too
long for Hughes but he managed to put the goalie off enough to fumble
it, leaving Liam with a strike on goal.  The keeper blocked his
initial shot but Liam followed in well, stroking the ball home to
claim his second goal of the season.  It was a deserved lead for the
Wheatsheaf and they would look to build on it with almost 70 minutes
remaining.

Striker Tim Hughes should have doubled the lead 5 minutes later but
struck wide after being put through by James Reeves.  Hughes would
have to prove himself after this shocking miss.

The Wheatsheaf defence was particularly dominant throughout the game
with sterling performances from Paris, Ric, Will and Robbie (older
brother of Farnborough Town's Paul) Harkness.  This was enabling the
midfield to concentrated solely on attacking with little need to
support the back four, and the good midfield play created the 2nd goal
for the 'Sheaf.  Robbie and Gav interchanged passes before laying the
ball inside to Reevo who had a pot shot from 25 yards.  The keeper
managed to scramble across and parry the ball out to the right hand
side of the penalty area where Hughes followed in to strum an
unstoppable curling effort in off the post from an improbable angle. 
It was undoubtedly one of the greatest goals ever witnessed on a
Sunday, if not in football as a whole.

The 3rd Wheatsheaf goal arrived shortly after with good interplay on
the left allowing a cross by Robbie to find Gav who superbly volleyed
home.  It was another quality goal and the technique displayed by Gav
was second to none (apart from possibly Hughes).  Gav should have made
it four minutes later but managed to sky an effort from 6 yards after
good work from Liam who was doing a superb job of harrying and
pestering the defenders into making mistakes.  This was the last
meaningful action of the 1st half and the Youth team was relatively
happy as they reached half time 3-0 to the good.

Just before half time Liam had sustained a nasty gash on his ear and
needed to be taken to hospital for stitches in the cut, so was
replaced by Ryan Ralphs, who as it turned out, was to have an eventful
half!  Ryan joined the prolific Hughes up front.

It was important for the Youth team to take the opportunity to score
some goals and playing good football was the key to unlocking the
Bagtonians defence who dealt competently with high balls, as they had
a clear height advantage over the 'Sheaf strikers.

The Baggies came out of the break all guns blazing and could have got
a foot back in the game with a good spell including some last ditch
challenges from Paris and Ric and a couple of clearances from
dangerous corners.  It was slightly against the run of play then, that
the Wheatsheaf extended their lead.  The Baggies over committed going
forward, allowing Mikey to spray a nice ball out to Ryan on the break.
 Ryan beat one man and put in a low cross that the keeper only managed
to parry out to the penalty spot where the onrushing Gav stroked home
into an unguarded net.  The goal gave the Wheatsheaf a real boost and
struck a killer blow to Curley Park who were enjoying their best spell
of the game.  From the resulting centre kick the Bagtonians tried to
score direct, but as with about 5 other attempts from the kick off
they failed.

The Wheatsheaf were now creating numerous chances but squandering
them.  Hughes was particularly guilty when he found himself onside but
was only able to guide his volley wide of the goal.  James Reeves was
proving to be thorn in the side of the Bagshot team and their
frustration started to spill over after the Hughes chance with many of
the Baggies players feeling the Sheaf striker was in an offside
position.

There was no disputing Hughes' second goal however, which came a
matter of minutes after his previous chance.  A ball over the full
back found the Youth striker 35 yards from goal on the right hand
side, and with a bouncing ball to contend with Hughes struck it with
his right on the volley and the ball flew into the goal past a stunned
Baggies goalie.  Before the restart Steve Laidler asked the double
scorer Hughes for some shooting advice, and it paid dividends when
Steve struck an unstoppable shot past the disconsolate keeper from
fully 35 yards.  Although not as impressive as Hughes' strikes it was
certainly a memorable one, and also was influential midfielder
Laidler's first goal for the Wheatsheaf.

Jordan Smith replaced Nick Paris as the Wheatsheaf looked to cement
all three points and not give anything away in the last 20 minutes.

Rob Harkness was unlucky not to get himself on the scoresheet as a
fierce volley from the edge of the area was well saved by the keeper,
with Mike Stone missing an absolute sitter as he followed up!

There was still time for the game to degenerate into farce however, as
handbags were drawn at 10 paces with stupid incidents occurring around
the Baggies six yard box a number of times.  The Bagtonians keeper and
Sheaf player Ryan Ralphs could count themselves VERY lucky not to
receive their marching orders after a needless scuffle at a corner. 
It has to said that without the intervention of Jackson Snr and Jnr
the situation could have escalated into something a lot more serious.

  What followed left a sour taste (quite literally) in the mouth of
the players when a Bagtonians player spat in the face of a Youth team
player, an action that is completely unacceptable and was condemned by
both teams.  The player involved can feel thoroughly ashamed of his
actions and was lucky that the referee did not pick up on the
incident.

Ryan Ralphs struck the Youth team's seventh goal late on with a good
shot past the keeper from just outside the box which capped a solid
performance from the team against a side who struggled to come to
terms with the Wheatsheaf's attacking pace and movement.  The rest of
the game was played out in quiet fashion with the 'Sheaf keeping the
ball at the back and running down the clock.

The game finished 7-0 to the Wheatsheaf, completing a 5th consecutive
win, and improving their goal difference.  It was fair to say that
Mark Tottle didn't have a save to make and was untroubled during the
entire game, having to be alert on a couple of occasions, but
generally well shielded by his defence.

Man of the Match: Another close run thing, with Liam playing a fine
first half, Nick Paris again superb in the centre of defence, and Gav
scoring a couple of good goals. Last weeks MOTM Reevo had another fine
game creating good chances for the forwards.  However the award goes
to the player who has been the catalyst behind the Wheatsheaf in every
game he's played, a true bit of class when he's on the pitch and takes
the game to another level on a Sunday.  Created numerous chances for
the strikers and scored his first goal to cap a very fine performance
today.  Gotta be Steve Laidler.