It's been a busy summer for Selfy and Thommo as they look to build on what was another successful season at the helm after narrowly missing out on promotion with a third place finish in our debut season at Step 6. It is pleasing that the services of all last season's squad have been retained along with the introduction of a few new fresh faces. Four of those were included in the travelling squad for our trip to Suffolk to take on Cornard United.

There is also a new role for club captain Mark Sutcliffe who has joined the management team as he continues to recover from a long term injury. Edd will help to fill the void left by Chris Carter who has been drafted in to assist Tom Brown and Josh Farrow rebuild our Reserve side this season.

Debuts were handed to Steve Taylor, James Page and Tom Baird whilst fellow summer signing Lagshan Sivakumar was amongst the substitutes. Dom Doggett was handed the captains armband and exchanged pleasantries with his opposite number before we got underway.

Kick-Off

Wanderers started the game with a ferocious pace and were showing plenty of attacking intent from the outset. A wave of opportunities began when Doggett's cross was headed over by Thompson before the latter turned provider as Whiting also missed the target by firing just over from the edge of the area.

The 'Ards then looked to try and quell the pressure on Allen's goal by attempting to find their front men but it was to no avail as Curtis, Taylor and Page were quick to dispossess our hosts both aerially and on the deck before quickly feeding Doggett, Baird and Oliver. United did almost make Curtis pay for a misplaced pass but Burt recovered with a well timed sliding challenge as Kade was lining up his shot at goal.

The relentless Wanderers pressure continued as Doggett's cross was just a little too high for Oliver. A few minutes later and we were awarded a free-kick in a dangerous area which left Doggett licking his lips. His effort was well struck but failed to trouble Allen as he gathered low down to his left. Thompson was then cleverly played through on goal twice in quick succession by Baird and then Page but Allen won the race on both occasions to clear the danger.

The pace of Roe and Oliver was causing problems down the left and after a driving run, Toby slipped the ball into Baird who saw his effort parried into the path of Whiting but Sam was unable to adjust his feet and prodded a hopeful effort wide of the post. Moments later Page sent a gorgeous ball over the top once more and this time Thompson was able to gather and run at Allen before jinking the ball to his left and being bundled over inside the area by the United stopper. A clear penalty and yellow for Allen. Thommo stepped up to take the spot kick and tried to find the same corner as last season but Allen redeemed himself with a good save to his right before smothering the ball as it tried to squirm it's way over the line.

Somehow it was starting to look like we would be going into the break with nothing to show for our endeavours until Aulert was shoved to the ground by Graham as he looked to advance down the right. Two debutants combined as Tom Baird sent a beautiful delivery into the mixer, Allen gambled but there was only ever going to be one winner as James Page beat his marker and the keeper to the ball and accurately guided it into the corner of the net with his forehead to give us a deserved lead before being mobbed by his new teammates. 0-1.

Few chances followed before the break with the only notable event being Cornards captain going through Thompson before letting him know what he thought of him which earned a talking to from referee Severino.

Half-Time | Cornard United 0-1 Wanderers

The second half started in a similar fashion to the first and it wasn't long before Toby Oliver pinched the ball from Ezra out on the right hand side and swiftly proceeded towards goal, with the goal being blocked Toby nudged the ball onto Baird and his touch returned the ball back into the path of Oliver who hammered it into the roof of the net to double our lead. 0-2.

A minute later, Page almost had his second when he sent a looping header onto the top of the crossbar from Roe's corner. Aulert then found himself in space and accepted the invitation to shoot from distance which forced a solid catch from Allen. He distributed the ball out quickly to start a counter but the colossal Page excellently won back possession and showed great vision to immediately send Ben Thompson on his way once more, Thommo kept his composure and waited for the right moment to stroke the ball beyond a helpless Allen. 0-3.

Straight after the goal, Jack Guyton was introduced in place of Dom Doggett. Guyts quickly made himself busy and was almost played through on goal following one of his famous surging runs from midfield but Allen turned sweeper and rushed a long way out of his goal to clear the danger but unfortunately the ball ended up at the feet of Baird who was at least 30 yards from goal but showed great presence of mind to send an audacious lob up and over the covering defender (who was pretty much on the line!) and into the net. Not a bad way to open his Wanderers account. 0-4.

It was then time for a double substitution as Tommy Wright and Lagshan Sivakumar replaced Steve Taylor and Ben Thompson. Laggy looked to get himself involved straight away and his trickery resulted in him being fouled out on the left which left many of the Wanderers faithful remonstrating for a free-kick. Once it was evident that was not forthcoming, Baird collected the ball and advanced into the area before crashing it past Allen for a quickfire double. 0-5.

Further chances then fell to Whiting, who had an effort well saved and then Laggy with a sighter that was close to shaving the bar. There was no sign of any let up and Baird soon found himself lining up another free-kick delivery. He found Sam Whiting at the front post who steered an effort towards the centre of goal and it was Page who snuck in front of pre-season talisman Tommy Wright to take a touch and bury his second of the afternoon to make it 0-6.

Wanderers were hungry for more as Aulert played the ball into Guyton who took a touch to set himself but was unable to find the corner of the goal he was looking for on this occasion. Down the other end Cornard were looking for a consolation with an acrobatic overhead kick which was on target but comfortably dealt with by Tom Wright. It was then in the final minute of the game that Sivakumar got his name on the scoresheet as he skillfully danced his way around two defenders before bending the ball beyond Allen for a debut goal to complete the scoring. 0-7

Full-Time | Cornard United 0-7 Wanderers

Man of the Match: James Page.

Next Fixture | Tuesday 6th August - Norwich CBS (H) 7.45pm KO.