Four goals from Sean Doyle gives The Ravens all three points as they beat Eccleshall 4-0 away on Saturday.
Doyle’s impressive form since the start of the campaign continued as he bagged all four FC Isle of Man goals on the day. The striker has now scored eight goals in five consecutive games making him the top goal scorer for The Ravens and moving him into eighth in the Goals table for NWCFL Division 1 South.
The opening minutes of the match itself was evenly poised as both sides cancelled each other out with most of the game being played in midfield.
Eccleshall came close to taking the lead in the ninth minute after a ball was crossed from the left-wing, only for goalkeeper, Matthew Quirk to get a strong hand to it and force it out for a corner.
Once The Ravens settled down to the pace of the game, they began showing their difference in quality by playing out from the back – creating good build up play from defence to attack.
The Ravens then began dominating the match after applying constant pressure on Eccleshall’s defence and not allowing them to play from the back.
The opening goal came on the 25th minute when a misplaced pass from the Eccleshall defence gave the ball away to Furo Davies, who put it on a plate for Doyle to tap in the first goal.
A number of opportunities not taken by The Ravens could have seen a different score line in the first half, but it finished 1-0 at the break.
The second half was played in a similar pattern to the first, but it didn’t take long for The Ravens to score the second.
Doyle increased the lead in the 52nd minute after a poor defensive clearance from Eccleshall gave the ball away to Dan Simpson who placed a perfectly timed cross into the box for the striker to head it past the goalkeeper.
Eccleshall’s defensive mistakes proved to be costly again, as the third goal came from another error at the back, which saw Doyle through 1v1 against the goalkeeper to tap in his hat-trick in the 67th minute.
Doyle put the icing on the cake in the 87th minute after another defensive error allowed the striker to tap in his fourth of the day.
After the game, we caught up with the goal scorer, Doyle, to reflect on the team’s performance and most importantly keeping the second clean sheet of the season.
Doyle said: “[It was a] good win for the boys today. Obviously, it’s always nice to get a couple of goals. The boys put it on a plate for me half of the time, but I’m just doing my bit for the team and putting the goals away.”
And on the clean sheet: “It’s important for the team and for the defence to keep a clean sheet and to get the confidence building for the next game. The clean sheet is vital and as the manager always says if we can get goals and keep a clean sheet, the game is secured so it’s always nice to keep a clean sheet.”
Doyle continued, “Now it’s important to recover and we go again on Wednesday, travel over and carry on the momentum that we’re on. We’re six games unbeaten now, the boys are flying, we’re all flying, and the goals are going in so same again really”.
This was a great team performance by The Ravens, as the squad is beginning to look fully match-fit and picking up the pace in the North West Counties Football League.
The team will now put all focus on the midweek game away to Barnton on Wednesday where they will look to continue with their winning form.
