We entertained our league leaders, Wick at Fetcham Grove on Saturday 17th of September and we were fully expecting a challenging game. Our own thoughts naturally turned to our player Andy ‘Woody’ Hall whose injury he sustained at our match at Forest Row caused that game to be abandoned- we all wish you well ‘Woody’. Our visitors, Wick narrowly lost their 100% record away at Arundel on the previous Tuesday.

We made a few changes from the game at Forest Row with starts being given to Aaron Bogle, Riccardo Fernandez and Gavin Quintyne.

There was a very respectful minute silence before kick-off to mark the recent passing of Queen Elizabeth II.

After a slow start, we took the lead through our ‘player of the month’ Zac Powell’s long-range effort which sailed over the opposition keeper in the 14th minute. We continued to press our opponents with ‘tormentor in chief’ Jaevon Dyer causing all sorts of problems for the Wick defence and it was no surprise that his constant trickery proved too much for a Wick defender who committed a ‘stonewall’ penalty which was duly dispatched by Ryan Hall in the 47th minute. Half-time 2-0 to the Salts.

As the second half began, we fully expected some onslaught from the opposition, but this never came. We increased our lead in the 55th minute after some trickery from Athan Smith-Joseph who bamboozled the opposition defence and sent a rasping shot past the keeper to make it 3-0. It was only 3 minutes later when we increased our lead further with a goal from Riccardo Fernandes who ran from an onside position onto a pass and beat the advancing keeper easily. We made it 5-0 in the 65th minute with Riccardo’s second goal of the match after a great jinking run by Athan who beat the defender easily to cross the ball to the advancing Riccardo who lashed the ball into the net.

Nine minutes later Wick scored a consolation goal which unfortunately rather than spur them on did the opposite as we breached their offside trap again for Adam Grant to score our 6th goal in the 80th minute.

The game ended 6-1 to the Salts. It was a comprehensive victory with some great football and team play on display. Our next game is not for 10 days when we have a tough assignment away at Godalming.

After this fixture, we visit a promoted team to our division in East Preston. Our next home game is in the Peter Bentley Cup when we entertain Broadbridge Heath who currently sit top of the Premier division in our league; this tie is a mouth-watering game for us as we try to pitch ourselves with a team riding high in the division above. We will need your support more than ever on the 4th of October with a 19.30 kick-off.