Durham Ox Wellow — Sat 9 Sep 2006

Match report

Half time: 3 – 0

Samba had two changes to the line up from the opening week with Richard Wilford recovering from his long term injury to replace Hill who missed out with a bruised foot and Gareth Taylor replaced Ballard up front, who was deputising for Ince in goal. Samba kicked off their first league game at Burton Road this season, starting the game much the brighter and seemingly were enjoying the warm conditions and a near perfect pitch. They scored the games opening goal after 10 minutes when M. Bassett spotted an excellent diagonal run from Francis to put him in the clear. Francis still had a lot of work to do but his finish from the edge of the box was emphatic, in off the post. Samba were playing with confidence and had much more composure on the ball than their opponents. The game slipped into a slight lull after 25mins with the passing quality reduced and Samba then lost Gibbons to a groin injury, replacing him with Fowler. The tempo was quickly rediscovered though and Samba were soon 2-0 ahead. This goal was down to route one football more than pretty passing as Gaz Taylor flicked on Ballard’s goal kick for Francis to race through and slot home. Manager John Wilford didn’t have long to wait for the third goal and when it came it sealed Francis’s hatrick. After decent play in the Samba midfield the ball was fed to Francis who with his back to goal turned and ran at the Durham defence. With the ball on his favoured left foot, Francis turned inside and with his right foot curled the ball to the keepers left from about 20 yds to give Samba a comfortable and well deserved half time lead. Samba had been very comfortable at the back in his half with Ballard having to make only one real save. The only other time the keeper was bothered was when he tried to block the attacker and let the ball run out for a goal kick. The ball didn’t have enough momentum though and C. Taylor cleared.

The second half began with more of the same and it wasn’t long before Samba added to their tally. The ball was crossed in from the left and the Durham centre half was adjudged to have climbed all over Francis. G.Taylor coolly converted the penalty sending it along the ground to the keepers left. The next 20 minutes saw Samba play their best football of the match and they streamed forward at every opportunity. Swinscoe replaced Francis up front and the passing was crisp and stretched Durham on both flanks. M.Bassett was getting a lot of space at left back and took the opportunity to drive at the Durham defence, willed on by the supporters on the touchline he unleashed a decent 25 yd effort which went just over the bar. At the other end Durham were still not making much progress until a cracking shot brought an exceptional save from Ballard, who flung himself backwards to tip round the post. Durham earned themselves a penalty when after a scramble in the box, D.Bassett slide in and appeared to cleanly win the ball. Despite having an obstructed view of the incident the referee gave a penalty and D.Bassett found himself in the book for dissent, joining Doughty who earlier was cautioned for the same offence. The Durham spot kick was straight down the middle and reduced the arrears to 4-1. This did not knock Samba out of their stride and a fifth goal was not long in waiting. Gritty play from G.Taylor saw him lay the ball wide for Lucas who put it on a plate for Swinscoe to finish from 7 yds. The final 10 minutes saw Samba have a succession of chances and Spears, on for Hawkins, forced a good save from the keeper when clean through. Swinscoe was having an eventful time of it and nearly adding to his tally on three occasions before leaving play with an injured arm. The final whistle signalled the end of a very good and much improved performance by Samba.