Five star Hurricanes rediscover goalscoring touch
A resurgent Hurricanes team swept aside Lokomotiv to ease their relegation fears in their Second Division clash at Close House on Wednesday afternoon.
Hurricanes showed a ruthless side to their game in a phsyical contest at Close House Photography: Vincent Leonardo
Football Division Two (Weds)
The Hurricanes 5-1 Lokomotiv
The result puts the brakes on Lokomotiv’s promotion push while Hurricanes were able to lay their demons of the reverse fixture earlier in the season to rest. The season’s earlier fixture had seen The Hurricanes start strong before being pegged back four goals to share the points in a ten goal thriller and it was the Blues who started strongest once again.
Chris McCrory had already threatened the Loko’ goal before the deadlock was broken after just five minutes. Neat play down the right hand side created space for Chris Adams to swing in a deep cross and Adam Duckworth rose highest to head his side in front.
The Hurricanes pressure didn’t relent and they continued their assault on the Lokomotiv goal, Andy Thomas hitting the post after a goalmouth scramble, but they soon found their way past the ‘keeper and in spectacular style. A cross into the box from Joe Moffat was cleared out to the edge of the area where Duckworth was lurking and as the ball dropped the striker unleashed an unstoppable volley into the roof of the net.
Still stunned by Duckworth’s strike, Hurricanes moved to capitalise further on their opponents’ dazed state and they soon found themselves three goals to the good, Duckworth again at the centre of the action. A ball through the middle from James Butler found Duckworth surging into the box and his cut back from the by-line was forced home by a combination of Lokomotiv’s centre half and Chris McCrory.
It took the third goal to wake Loko from their slumber and the should have pulled at least one goal back before the break, the frame of Hurricanes goalkeeper Will Hollis in refusing to give up his clean sheet with a couple of sensational stops. The first came from Lokomotiv’s first meaningful foray into the Hurricanes half, Hollis acrobatically tipping over a header from point-blank range to the applause of most of the pitch. But better was still to come.
From the resulting corner the referee spotted a handball from Hurricanes centre back Ben Mile and awarded Lokomotiv the perfect opportunity to edge their way back into the match. Hollis however was determined to prove that the earlier save wasn’t just a fluke and his reactions got the better of a Scot Bowman spot kick, tipping the ball round the post for another corner and ensuring Hurricanes three goal cushion was still intact at the break.
As The Hurricanes know only too well this season though, football is a game of two halves and the Blues were greeted with unwanted déjà vu at the beginning of the second half as Lokomotiv looked to put into motion another unlikely comeback.
Barely three minutes had passed at the beginning of the second half when a floated ball over the top found Scot Bowman, who brought the ball down before firing low into the far corner, ‘keeper Hollis left with no chance.
The goal seem to strike fear into The Hurricanes as their play became disjointed and panic-stricken as the prospect of surrendering another comfortable lead crossed every players mind.
This forced captain Nick Gibby into two quick substitutions as Harry Dawson came on to sure up the defence and out-of-favour Harry Slavin was called upon to give his side further attacking options.
The two replacements had the desired effect as The Hurricanes eventually mopped up the Lokomotiv pressure and began to rediscover the attacking edge which saw them carve their opponents open in the opening stages.
Adam Duckworth was allowed to complete his hat-trick after losing his marker to meet Andy Thomas’s right wing centre, sending his header in via the post. A few moments later Slavin completed the rout, the winger making room for himself just inside the area before drilling the ball into the far corner.
The Hurricanes had chances to add to their tally but mixture of complacency and poor composure saw that the team had to settle for five.
