Old Chigwellians 2 - 7 OBFC

Off the back of 3 wins on the bounce and 4 unbeaten,  Old Bradfieldians came into Saturday’s fixture against Old Chigwellians full of confidence. Not even the long drive, cold conditions and key man J Shields turning his ankle the night before could dampen spirits. Old Bradfieldians started quickly catching Old Chigwellians out with the high press, J Foord picking up where he left off last week winning the ball and rounding the keeper score an early goal. The Old Bradfieldian pressure continued with the front line of W Louis, J Foord and R Knibbs winning he ball again and Knibbs finishing to give Bradfield their second. The goals continued to flow, this time a long throw undid the Chigwell defence, a towering flick on by J Foord and a poacher’s finish from W Louis making it three goals in the first 20 mins for Bradfield. Old Chigwellians grabbed a foothold in the game with a with well worked goal an excellent cross and finish giving M Hutton no chance in goal. Another chance for Chigwell from a corner was only prevented from going in by two unbelievable clearances of the line by A Ames. Just as it looked as if Chigwell could get themselves back into the game Bradfield got the killer goal. Another great bit of pressing resulted in P Oldham getting the ball to W Louis who beat his man and slotted a finish past the keeper, rounding off a wonderful half for the away team who led 4-1.
The second half began with Bradfield looking very confident on the ball, knocking it about at ease, the early pressure and dominance with the ball starting to exasperate the Old Chigwellian team. The fifth goal came in a slightly scrappy manner with A Ames winning a big header from a corner and fox in the box R Knibbs taking advantage of the defending and tapping in. This led to the arrival of super-sub M Watts who was involved in the stunner of a sixth goal. Watts plucked an under-hit goal kick out of the sky and a quick exchange of passes led to T Joslin cracking a textbook half volley into the back of the net, the ball barely touching the ground from goal kick to goal. Bradfield were really starting to play some good football now with P Oldham, T Joslin and A Ames in particular running the midfield ragged, plenty of flicks and tricks on show for the fans. W Louis was unlucky not to get his hat-trick with a couple of well worked chances, but the Bradfield scoring was rounded off by M Watts getting his customary goal. Good link up play in the midfield put Knibbs in down the left and a decent save by the keeper left a tap in for M Watts to finish. Old Chigwellians did grab a consolation late on with some sloppy defending being punished but all in all a great 7-2 win for the Old Bradfieldians giving them their fourth win in a row. Let's hope this confidence continues to the next fixture which should be a tough one against Old Alleynians AFC under the Friday night lights.