Report
Never has the cliché “a game of two halves” been more true than the encounter at Wadham Lodge today.
A bright start saw the Stags almost take the lead through debutant Matthew Judge when he headed just wide from a Carl Ashton free kick and from then for the next 15 minutes they held the upper hand. However, once Arlesey scored, the had the edge for the rest of the half.
Town scored through Craig Reynolds after 16 minutes when he received the ball on the left of the penalty area and slotted home past King at the far post. Although this was against the run of play, Arlesey then pressed the game into midfield where the Stags seemed unable to find a way out.
Then things got worse for the Stags when, on 35 minutes Ronnie Fortune stole in at the back post to meet a long free kick and shoot low and hard into the right side of the net.
A serious talking to at half time from boss Hakan Hayrettin and everything was so different. After weathering a minor break when Arlesey could have gone three ahead, Papy Kanyuka swung in a shot from 40 yards out on the right touchline. Arlesey stopper Nick Bussey stood rooted to the spot while the ball sailed over his head and into the net.
This was to be the making of the home side as all the front runners then began to click and proceeded to make the Arlesey defence look very ordinary where they had been in total command in the first half.
Kanyuka gave Town’s left back, Andy Lodge a torrid time as he beat him time and time again to get into the penalty area and shoot or cut the ball back. While this was going on down the right, Dewayne Clarke began to make his mark in the middle by winning the high balls and taking on defenders.
The game took on an end to end style with the home defenders in the ascendancy setting up the attack through effective defence.
Within two minutes the Stags were on level terms when Judge forced the ball home from a corner after seeing his first try hit the crossbar and come out.
Then to round off an amazing five minutes Kanyuka scored again rising above his marker to head in direct from a corner.
The Stags were not finished though. They piled on the pressure and ran at Town’s defence on every occasion. They put the game beyond reach when Judge got his second reacting the more quickly to stab the ball home from five yards after yet another corner had been poorly defended by Arlesey.
The Stags could have got two more goals but for a good save by the woodwork from Panayiotou and an even better save from Kanyuka by Bussey.
The four second half goals had Arlesey chasing shadows and the Stags were happy to have beaten one of their bogey sides.
It is also right to make the point that referee Mr Osborne had a very good game in contrast to officials seen over previous weeks: he did not miss much and kept cards to a minimum preferring to advise rather than punish.