After a long spell of dry weather, the hard ground was given a light sprinkling of rain to make the surface skidy as well as hard. This was Coalpit Heath’s home fixture, but being played at the Jubilee Centre in Bradley Stoke owing to pitch availability and fixture congestion.

Both teams seemed to struggle with these conditions early on in the match with passes being over hit or skidding away from attempts to control.

However, it was Bradley Stoke that settled down first creating some good chances that tested the Coalpit Heath keeper. The first goal came from the boot of Ashley Lloyd latching onto a rebound after a saved shot from Liam Dixon. The second goal wasn’t long after and again came from Lloyd following a defence splitting through ball from Collis-Pritchard.

Coalpit Heath’s reply was in the form of a long range shot that Palmer saved comfortably and a couple of corners. There was little to worry Town. After a few frantic moments that caused these Heath opportunities, Bradley Stoke again settled down and got back to playing some nice football…this lead to Stoke’s third goal of the game – a close range finish from Ben Osborne, courtesy of a long kick from Palmer flicked on by Skipp to Lloyd who’s effort caused a defensive mix-up allowing Osborne to steam in.

During the second half, all the Stoke substitutes were used and added extra life into the game.

A fourth goal for Stoke came from Ashley Lloyd, completing his hatrick. A fifth came courtesy of Andy Forshaw who lobed the stranded Heath keeper from outside the box.

To finish of the rout, in fading light was a spectacular goal from Sam Chillcott. Playing in a right midfield position, he found a lot of space coming infield. Lloyd had the ball at his feet on the left flank and delivered a pin-point cross field pass to the screaming Chillcott who, without letting the ball bounce, volleyed a powerful left foot shot into the bottom left corner of the goal. This was a definite contender for goal of the season and a great way to round off the night with a solid and resounding 6-0 victory.

Match report courtesy of James Palmer.