Report courtesy of 'Matt Pole' West Sussex County Times. Thank you
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Magnificent seven for Loxwood as they pick up first win under Walsh against Arundel
Loxwood boss Alex Walsh felt his side’s ‘excellent’ second-half performance ensured they picked up their first win under his reign at Plaistow Road.
The Magpies thumped Arundel 7-3 at home in the Premier Division on Saturday to pick up their first victory since October 6 and move them four points shy of safety.
Loxwood raced into a 3-0 lead in the bottom-of-the-table clash as new boys Shabazz Omofe, Mark Goldson, and Nicholas Mynhardt netted their first goals for the club.
Josh Courtney added a fourth but the Mullets pulled it back to 4-3 before the break through goals from Matt Noble, Ben Gray, and Ryan Hallett.
Magpies nerves were settled as they struck three times in the second half thanks to Hugo Cowan, Goldson, and Michael Death.
Walsh said: “It’s nice to get that first win. I think we played well in the three games prior to that but it’s starting to gel now.
“For 35 minutes of the 45 we were excellent. We were well in control and we were playing the way we want to play.
“We then had a shaky ten minutes where we weren’t great and I think we needed to manage the game better. All I said to the players was ‘we’re ahead at half-time, let’s try and take the positives from the 35 minutes because all you’re thinking about is the last ten minutes’.
“I said to them we should build on what we’ve got and try and make sure we’re positive, aggressive, and we try and win the second half.
“They did exactly that. They kept a clean sheet and won the second half which was exactly what I wanted them to do.”
Loxwood opened the scoring on ten minutes as Omofe’s outside-of-the-box strike found the bottom corner. The lead was doubled eight minutes later as a marvellous individual run from Goldson saw him round Chris Clark in the Arundel goal to slot home.
The Magpies were awarded a penalty on 25 minutes and Mynhardt stepped up to slot past the Mullets ‘keeper to make it three before another long-range drive, this time from Courtney, made it four on 31 minutes.
Arundel rallied and three goals in eleven minutes through Noble, Gray, and Hallett meant that the Mullets were just a goal behind going in at the break.
However, five minutes after the restart, a wonderful cross from Lewis Westlake found Cowan who put the ball home to score his third goal in three games.
Eight minutes later, Goldson ran onto a Mynhardt through ball and he lifted the ball over Clark to make it six. Death added the seventh on 90 minutes as he tucked home after a good pass from Omofe.
Match Photo's (Just Click on match photos)
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1. Chris Clark
2. Ryan Hallet (65 mins)
3. Dan Gibbs (25 mins)
4. Jordan Dudas (Capt)
5. Dylan Jelley (67 mins)
17. Jordan Layton
7. Ash Hawkes
8. Matt Noble
9. Ben Gray
10. Liam Brady
11. Dion Jarvis
12. Owen Benfell (65 mins)
14. Nathan Foster (67 mins)
15. Harry Potts
16. Joe Allen
20. Tom Claydon (25 mins)
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Attendance – 49
Goal Scorers – B.Gray, R.Hallett, M.Noble
Yellow Cards – A.Hawkes
Red Cards – J.Layton