Lymington Town smash eight past Poppies to maintain perfect start

Sydenhams Wessex Premier

Lymington Town FC 8Bournemouth Poppies 0

LYMINGTON Town FC continued their perfect start to the season with a thumping 8-0 win over Bournemouth Poppies at The Sports Ground.

The victory extends Lymington’s winning run to four and puts them third in the Sydenhams Wessex Premier table. Only Fareham Town and Horndean have taken more points, with the two sides having played more games.

In Town’s previous fixtures, the defence has taken the lion’s share of the plaudits. However, the home side looked lethal on every attack. Their impressive afternoon began with perhaps the quickest goal in Wessex football league history when Owen Fee beat the keeper with a left-foot thunderbolt from 20 yards after just 12 seconds.

Minutes later Sam House thought he had extended the lead when he found the back of the net. However, the goal was disallowed for a push. Midway into the first half, Steve Flynn successfully doubled the lead after nodding the ball past Poppies’ Kacper Kowalczyk from close range.

With 35 minutes gone, Lymington’s Dom Falco won a penalty after Macauley Raney’s poor challenge. House showed no hesitation, converting to make it 3-0. He claimed a second minutes later when his shot squirmed through the Bournemouth defence and into the bottom corner of the net.

After the break, Poppies came out looking to restore some pride. However, any attempts were thwarted by the dominant home defence, with new signing Robin Nicholls patrolling the space in front of the back line, showing impressive touches in his full debut.

Just before the hour mark, Fee outmanoeuvred his opponents to complete his brace after Falco released the winger down the right-hand side. With 10 minutes left, second-half substitute Conrad Churchill added his name to the scoresheet.

With momentum in their corner, last season’s top-scorer House completed his hat-trick with a low shot to the keeper’s left before he converted another penalty to complete the rout. Falco had been keen to take the spot-kick himself but, much to the striker’s frustration, a quick intervention from the dugout affirmed House as resident penalty taker.

Lymington Town FC manager Dave Lewis told the A&T: “We knew we had been playing well, but we were keen to see improvement on the ball.

“This missing ingredient was in abundance on Saturday, starting inside the first minute when Owen Fee rifled one into the top corner from outside the box.

“This result has been coming for a while. But our feet are back on the ground ready for our next game.”

Lymington Town FC: R. Casey, L. Churchill, D. Falco, O. Fee, S. Flynn, R. Fuller, S. House, N. Hurst, R. Nicholls, C. Stanley, T. Stephenson. Subs: T. Carkeet, C. Churchill, R. Drake.