IPSWICH WANDERERS v. GODMANCHESTER ROVERS

RIDGEONDS LEAGUE DIV 1. – 23RD APRIL 2005

Top of the table Wanderers welcomed bottom of the table Godmanchester Rovers on a sunny afternoon made less summery by the chill cross wind. Wanderers were at full strength, apart from the injured Jorrell Hurd.

It took a few minutes of scrappy play for both teams to find their feet, but on 5 minutes, Terry Layton laid in a deep cross from the right touchline that deceived the defenders, the ‘keeper and the crowd and ended up in the top corner of the net.

6 minutes later Jason Dozzell took a free kick to Marc Lowe who ran into the area and shot low across goal. The ball looked to be going wide until Rene Swann made a late run and beat the defender to slide the ball into the net.

Godmanchester’s liveliest player up from, Stewart, brought a save at his near post from home ‘keeper Jamie Stannard on 20 minutes in an isolated Godmanchester attack but as they were not putting up much opposition, Wanderers did not have to play well to remain in control.

A foul on Rene Swann on 35 minutes gave Dean Tournay-Godfrey a chance to practice his free kick taking skills from the edge of the ‘D’ and he dispatched the ball into the net much as he would a penalty. In the next minute, Rene Swann brought to good saves from Armitage as it was virtually one way traffic towards the Godmanchester goal. Dean Tournay-Godfrey scored the 4th goal on the stroke of half time having collected a crossfield ball from Terry Layton and swivelled to shoot low to Armitage’s right.

Ipswich Wanderers 4 Godmanchester Rovers 0

Marc Lowe’s blocked shot on 53 minutes and Dean Tournay-Godfrey’s effort moments later were the first serious Wanderers’ attacks of the second half. Previously, mainly through Stewart, Godmanchester had occupied the Wanderers defence, for whom Mark Francis had replaced Jason Dozzell but the back line were having an easy time and dealt comfortably with anything the visitors had to offer.

On 62 minutes Dean Tournay-Godfrey took a free kick from a spot similar to that he had scored from in the 1st half. This time he chose to float the ball over ‘keeper and bar.

Wanderers could attack at will but mostly chose not to add to the scoreline until 86 minutes when Mark Goldfinch’s free kick was headed back across goal by Ricky Martin for Daniel Buck to hammer home. This goal rescued the 2nd half from complete boredom and a brief moment of interest followed as Ricky Martin was through on goal and Armitage saved with his legs from David Grimwood’s shot.

To their credit, Godmanchester Rovers battled to the final whistle but they were a beaten team almost as soon as the 1st goal had gone in and Wanderers had spent the 2nd half going through the motions.