Upon arrival at the YMCA Hawker Centre it was clear that the Surb were eager to kick their campaign off in style, whilst their hosts appeared much less eager. Eventually The Willoughby surfaced, donning the kit they were awaiting and entered the field for a slightly delayed Kick Off.

Things started almost instantly with the Surb taking the lead within the opening couple of minutes, persistent pressing from R. Geer up front let the ball slip through to C. Banks who shifted the ball back to Geer to calmly slot the opener into the Willoughby net.

Minutes later and the same pair linked up again, this time in reverse order allowing Banks to open his cup account by whipping the ball into the corner of the net and past the Willoughby goalkeeper.

2-0 up with less than 5 minutes played and whilst the Surb looked hungry for more, The Willoughby looked like they still hadn’t got out of bed.

With about 20 minutes on the clock, that man again R. Geer added to his first by slotting home a decent finish following some good football in the middle of the park with the return of the aggressive J. Crawley in central midfield, flanked by C. Brown and K. Sweeney who combined to play Geer in on goal. 3-0.

Despite looking like the Surb would run away with it, The Willoughby were offered a brief lifeline by converting a penalty which was conceded by A. Sweeney who was assertive and dominant again at the heart of the Surbiton defence.

N. Murphy was on the receiving end of a nasty sliding tackle from behind that rightfully resulted in a booking for The Willoughby, proving the frustration that the opposition felt playing against such an in-form Surb.

Half time left the scores level at 3-1, but it was clearly Surb’s game to lose.

Shortly after the restart R. Geer completed his hat-trick in true poacher’s fashion by knocking a fumbled catch into the net from a Surbiton set-piece.

From then on it seemed that the floodgates opened as L. Snowdon, having only just replaced S. Bennett as LWB at half-time tried his luck from 25 yards out. The ball took a delightful flight path and the goalkeeper could do nothing to prevent it floating into the top right-hand corner of his net. Making the score 5-1 and turning into one of ‘those afternoons’ for The Willoughby.

Strength in depth proved fruitful for the Surb as F. Khan stepped into the impenetrable back-three, playing some incisive through balls and rushing down the right flank.

Debate rages on regarding Snowdon’s contribution, with nobody quite able to ascertain if it was in fact, a cross despite being an early nomination for goal of the season.

No such mistake could be made for the next goal as Surb skipper J. Crawley crowned his return to action with a superb finish that came as his first goal for the Club. Drifting wider out to the left than usual and pressing forward, Crawley raced onto a pin-point C. Brown cross and met it from a tight angle about 10 yards out. Opting not to take a touch, Crawley slammed the ball on the volley with his left foot and sent it rocketing against the inside of the far post and deflecting into the net, presumably damaging the goalpost in the process.

With a few minutes left the game lost its competitive edge and became somewhat of a jolly for the Surb. Players were taking it in turns to take free kicks and the comfortable lead became too much for The Willoughby as their centre-back/midfield/striker took it upon himself to remind the referee of the region from which he was birthed – resulting in a straight red card, despite his previous booking.

With just 10 men left on the pitch it was a strong Surbiton finish with K. Topson, donning his new No. 22 strip poached upon a goalkeeping mistake to compound Willoughby misery, before S. Bennett concluded the game in style with a driven yet controlled effort from the edge of the box that nestled itself in the bottom corner of the Willoughby net for the final time in this meeting.

The Surb march on to the 2nd round high on confidence having so comprehensively dismantled a team from the division above.

Next Sunday 7th October, the Surb return home – an 11:00 KO in the league Vs Reigate Road Rangers.

Que Sera, Sera.

UTS x

Matchday Squad: M. Brown, A. Sweeney, D. Shortt, A. Banks, N. Murphy, S. Bennett, J. Crawley, C. Brown, K. Sweeney, C. Banks, R. Geer, K. Topson, L. Snowdon, F. Khan.