Match Report: 3 Steps to Devon

Uxbridge’s longest away trip of the season, resulted in a fine three nil victory with the Reds first league clean sheet since the opening day against Dorchester. Channelling their inner Arsenal, all 3 goals came from corners, and moved us into 3rd place in the league and unbeaten in seven in all competitions.

The first half was played in brilliant but low sunshine, making viewing tricky for fans and players alike, however it was the visitors who started the livelier, with the returning George Moore, closing down the keeper early on, but the ball wouldn’t sit up as it fell to Frank Keita and the ball was cleared. With this being the first ever meeting between the sides, it was a cagey start from both teams as they tried to work each other out. The home slides first chance of note, not arriving until 15 minutes as James Watts-Barciela made a mazy run towards the Uxbridge box, but the finish didn’t match the run, and he fired straight at Laurie Shala in the Reds goal. Both sides struggled to create any chances after that, cancelling each other out and it wasn’t until 39 minutes that the visitors really tested Mack Allan between the home sticks as Nams Nwachuku broke free from the defence, but Allan was out smartly to deny him with a low block. There were signs of what was to come though on 40 minutes as a Reds corner wasn’t cleared by Parkway’s defence and Harry Rush shot just over from the edge of the box. The game seemed to be heading to a halftime stalemate, until right on the whistle Ada Okorogheye earnt a corner on the left hand side, which was taken by Massimo Giamattei - whether Allan lost the ball in the sun, or his own defender put him off in front of him we don't know, but the ball sailed over both - with only the finest fingertip on the ball from Allan - and nestled int the far corner of the net to give Uxbridge a slender half time advantage.

HT 1-0

The second half saw Uxbridge take full control of the match, just eleven minutes in, when another corner, this time from Harry Rush was glanced in at the near post by Jordan Stepney, making a fine run across the defence, for his first goal in a Reds shirt. Plymouth were unable to make any real inroads into the Uxbridge defence - with Bernie Tanner and Stepney keeping the home side at arms length. Their best chance came on as Barciela again made room for a snapshot, but Shala again was more than equal to it. The game was effectively sealed just a couple of minutes later, when another Harry Rush corner wasn’t cleared and was recycled back into the box, it fell perfectly for Stepney to slot the ball home, leaving Allan stranded and the travelling Red Army in dreamland. The late flurry of substitutions then broke up any rhythm in the game - and apart from a Plymouth corner causing some late anxiety the home team had had the stuffing knocked out of them. There were late chances for both Prior-Tack - whose low shot was well dealt with by Allan, and Giamattei who had a shot deflected wide in stoppage time. Uxbridge though marched on to an excellent win,with only the recurrence of George Moore’s hamstring injury being a blot on an otherwise perfect trip to Devon.

FT 3-0

Att: 386

Uxbridge: Shala, Brown, Giamattei, Tanner (Bailey), Stepney, Nnadozie (Hobbs), Okorogheye, Rush, Nwachuku, Moore (Prior-Tack), Keita (Lawal)