Joy of six as UEA hand out a thrashing

UEA routed Morley Village in a six-goal thrashing to progress to the second round of the Norfolk Junior cup.

Last week’s 5-5 draw ensured a replay and our boys were looking to advance into the next round of the competition they won in the 2010/2011 season.

UEA felt they could have gone all the way last year and are determined to reach the final which is held at the home of Norwich City, Carrow Road.

The initial exchanges were cagey but UEA took the lead on six minutes. The ball was sent down the left to Ben Calvo who cut inside and delivered a teasing cross which was diverted towards goal forcing a fine save from the away keeper. UEA struck from the resultant corner, the keeper undoing his good work by failing to deal with the cross, leaving a simple nod in for the breakthrough.

A somewhat dubious refereeing decision saw a rare chance for the visitors, UEA were dispossessed in midfield with a seemingly unfair challenge, subsequently a lofted ball into the home box fell kindly to a Morley shirt only for his volley to clip the top of the bar.
UEA were in again soon after with Dingli beating two players only to see his effort and a subsequent follow up effort cleared off the line.

Morley were beginning to get a foothold in the match around the half-hour mark and came close again when UEA failed to clear a corner, the ball falling at the edge of the area and a decent strike brought a fine tip-over from the UEA keeper.

Despite Morley’s endeavour UEA doubled their lead, strong hold-up play by Dingli in a congested box worked space for a lay-off which Calvo drilled inside the near post.
It was nearly three on the stroke of half-time, when Danny Scott pounced on a loose ball in midfield, his through-ball found Calvo who opted to shoot early, rather than round the keeper, only to see his effort fly wide.

UEA started the second-half in the ascendancy and doubled their first-half advantage with a quick-fire double, strikes from Calvo and Dingli respectively effectively ended the game as a contest.

In the wake of the two second-half strikes, the game started to become cagey with UEA edging it, displaying their greater quality of ball retention.Rarely looking under any real threat they made their dominance count with ten minutes to go. Dingli capitalised on a wayward ball in the middle of the park, before rounding the keeper and converting to make it five.

It was six almost immediately after, Perry Richards was set free down the right and sent a composed finish into the far corner leaving the keeper stranded. UEA looked like scoring every time they came forward heading into the closing minutes, and nearly made it seven only to see the ball cannon back off the crossbar.

Overall it was a solid performance, limiting Morley largely to long range efforts and clinically punishing the away side’s mistakes. Listening to captain Dingli speak in a previous match which UEA were leading 8-0 at half time, there was a clear emphasis on respecting the opponents and striving for a clean sheet regardless of how many UEA had scored.

No doubt the team will be delighted with not conceding. In other competitions UEA started their bid to retain the Cyrill Ballyn Cup with an 8-3 victory over Costessey Sports in the first round. That was followed by an imperious display against Blofield United Reserves in the Anglian Combination League with UEA running out 12-1 winners. The team will be looking to continue this form heading into the BUCS competition.