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It?s an old cliché, but this was most definitely a game of two halves. AFC adopted a new 5-3-2 formation, and it took a while for the players to get used to it. That said, they did take the lead after 10 minutes when Gareth Witter latched onto a Ryan Rose through ball and tucked his shot neatly under the advancing keeper.
AFC were caught napping 15 minutes later and conceded a penalty allowing Chertsey to level the scores, however AFC restored their lead five minutes later when Tom Dawson split the defence with a deft pass to Gareth Witter, which he coolly stroked home for his second of the game.
Chertsey levelled the game once more shortly after the interval with a well-taken shot from the edge of the area, which then prompted the AFC machine into action.
Tom Dawson was again the provider, his pass finding Raphael Grant, who beat the goalkeeper with a somewhat tame shot, and the ball trickled over the line ? closely watched by Gareth Witter!!
Six minutes later it was 4-2 ? Alan Matthews cut in from the left flank and threaded the ball through to Raphael, who teased the goalkeeper off his line, and then lifted the ball over him with the deftest of touches into the net. We did not have to wait long for the score to increase ? this time a Dale Lidbetter goal-kick beat the entire Chertsey defence, picking out Gareth on the left wing, who in turn laid the ball back to Ryan Rose, whose first time shot left the keeper with no chance as it sailed into the top corner.
Raphael completed his hat-trick five minutes later ? Tom Dawson supplying the pass once more for Raphael to finish in similar fashion to his second.
AFC were still hungry for more goals, and ten minutes from time Adam Moody made it 7-2 with a well struck effort from the edge of the box ? a just reward for a tireless days work for him. Piers Johnson-King put the icing on the cake five minutes from time, beating three players down the right flank before unleashing a ferocious shot from just outside the area into the top corner of the net.
