Eight days after being
embarrassed by a 3-nil loss to the Otago youth development team Spirit FC
continued its fight-back in style by trouncing Mosgiel 7 goals to 1 in their
Soccersouth premier league clash at Rugby Park Invercargill on Saturday.
Spirit player-coach Ken
Cresswell was obviously delighted and full of praise for his team’s
performance as it came hard on the heels of a meritorious nil-all draw with
Queenstown on Easter Monday.
Seven goals is the
team’s highest-ever scoring total and the six-goal margin also the highest
ever.
Cresswell ruled himself
out of Saturday’s game at the eleventh hour with an injury, and for an
assortment of reasons six other squad members were unavailable for selection.
However in a
masterstroke he did manage to entice former Spirit player Karl Hawkes out of
retirement for the day.
"King Karlos"....has he really abdicated his
throne.
While not meaning to
detract from a wonderful team effort Hawkes combination with Scottish import
Barry Gardiner meant Spirit completely dominated in the mid-field to set up the
platform for the win.
Spirit’s player-of-the-day Matty Burgess set the tone for the afternoon at the ten minute mark when he struck a stunning volley into the Mosgiel net from some 30 metres out to put his team 1-nil ahead.
Fifteen minutes later
and after Mosgiel’s best period of play Alister Rickerby was on hand to slot
its only goal and level the score at 1-all.
That was to be
Mosgiel’s lot though and two minutes later John Schol outsmarted its defenders
to pick his spot and restore Spirit’s lead at 2 goals to 1.
Gore youngster Wade
Griffin then added a third goal for Spirit when he finished off some good work
down the left flank with a fine finish that sent the teams to the half time
break with the locals comfortably 3-1 ahead.
A twin strike, the
first by Schol and then by Gardiner in a two-minute spell immediately after the
break put the game well out of reach for Mosgiel as Spirit consolidated further
with a 5-1 lead.
Gardiner repeated the
dose and extended the lead to 6-1 ten minutes later although his on-target shot
took a wicked deflection off his team mate Stephen Black before nestling in the
back of the Mosgiel net.
Black registered the
final goal of the day when he slammed home the seventh Spirit goal during a
goalmouth scramble in which the Mosgiel keeper Pat Howell made an incredible
one-handed save that perhaps deserved a better fate than to be punished with a
goal.
Spirit FC now faces a
series of games against the “big guns” in the league but will do so with
renewed confidence following Saturday’s remarkable result.