A RUTHLESS Bromsgrove Sporting showed no mercy against ten-man Kidlington as they thrashed the visitors 11-0 in front of a bumper crowd who certainly got their money’s worth.
The emphatic result in front of 910 fans at the Victoria Ground moved the Rouslers to the top of the Southern League Division One Central table going into Saturday’s FA Cup tie at Alvechurch on Saturday.
Boss Brendan Kelly made no changes to the team which ran out 4-1 winners at AFC Dunstable on Saturday and it did not take long for the hosts to break the deadlock.
With just six minutes on the clock, William Shorrock made a burst down the left wing before crossing to Walsall loanee Cameron Peters to nod home his second goal in as many games.
Kidlington were then reduced to ten men just two minutes later when Kane Finney was given his marching orders for bringing down Peters on the edge of the area.
Although the resulting free-kick from Richard Gregory hit the wall, the prolific forward only had to wait a further four minutes before he was on the scoresheet when he drilled home from the penalty spot after Josh Quaynor had been fouled in the area.
And just a minute later it was 3-0.
Sporting’s supremacy on the ball told once again as Nathan Hayward played in Pykett down the right wing and his cross into the centre of goal was met by Peters who swept the ball home.
Goal number four arrived in the 20th minute when Gregory managed to beat the offside trap and cheekily fire into the far corner.
A dejected Kidlington could have one pulled one back just three minutes later but Jamie Calvin’s looping header was superbly tipped over the bar by Sporting keeper Reece Francis.
Barely half an hour had been played by the time the Rouslers notched up their fifth goal of the evening.
The lively Pykett broke free for the umpteenth time down the right wing and although his cross was behind Peters, Shorrock lay in waiting to fizz the ball into the top right-hand corner.
Pykett then claimed his hat-trick of assists on the stroke of half-time when another dangerous cross was met by Gregory who got ahead of Kidlington keeper Sam Warrell to glance the ball home to complete the perfect hat-trick and make it 6-0.
One might have thought Sporting may have taken their foot off the gas in the second half but Sporting’s intentions of going for more goals were shown when the returning Jason Cowley was brought on for Peters.
Sporting’s all-time top goalscorer only took eight minutes to make an impact when his determination to keep the ball in allowed him to cross into the centre of goal.
Although the ball was cleared, it only landed at the feet of Shorrock who curled an exquisite effort into the top corner to make it 7-0.
Three minutes later goal number eight arrived when Gregory beat the offside trap and he unselfishly squared the ball to Cowley to tap home a much-wanted goal by the fans.
Sporting continued to push but their efforts to add a ninth were thwarted by Kidlington stopper Warrell.
However, Warrell was picking the ball out of his net with 20 minutes remaining when Charlie Dowd forced his way into the area before squaring to Gregory to tap in his fourth and Sporting’s ninth.
Although Kidlington were down and out, they came close to salvaging a consolation three minutes later when Callum Harvey got in behind but his outside of the boot shot drifted wide of the far post
With 12 minutes remaining Sporting were then awarded another penalty after Shorrock was brought down, giving Gregory the chance to calmly place the ball into the bottom right-hand corner from 12 yards to bring up the ten-goal margin.
And the scoring was completed in the 86th minute with Sporting’s very own hero Cowley grabbing a second after more unselfish play from Gregory.
Report courtesy of Craig Gibbons - Bromsgrove Standard.
