Men's 1s in seventh heaven

RPHC Mens 1st XI 7 Southampton 0

Match report - Saturday 14 November

Unbeaten in five, Reigate Priory Mens' 1s were hoping some cold November rain wasn't going to slash their rich run of form. The squad was bolstered by the welcome return of Tom Crees to the squad, making his first appearance in black and red this season. Eager to make home advantage count, Reigate imposed themselves on the game impressively given the tough conditions. Southampton were starved of possession from the outset, and tough pressing across the pitch from the Reigate players meant that they were finding it hard to string passes together. Capitalising on this early pressure, Reigate won a short corner within the opening five minutes; Chris Podd finding a Southampton foot inside the circle. A well worked routine saw Tom Pickersgill open his account for the weekend and put Reigate one goal to the good. With the half time break imminent, a rare Southampton chance and the resulting follow-up were both dealt with by skipper Henry Williams in the home goal. This turned out to be a pivotal moment in the game as seconds later a sweeping Reigate move saw Jonathan Perkins pull a neat square ball back to Pickersgill, who doubled his and Reigate's tally. The very damp spectators barely had time to finish their applause as Matt Heskey-Rankin was given too much space by the Southampton defence and coolly pushed the ball into the far corner putting Reigate three nil up and in total control at the break.

At the resumption of play the home side showed no evidence that they were taking their foot off the gas. Pickersgill completed his hat-trick on forty minutes with a very similar goal to his first and a two minute brace of cool finishes from Jonathan Perkins notched the scoreline up to six nil. Perkins' first was a composed finish on a tight angle following an error from the Southampton goalkeeper who was having a miserable afternoon. His second was a deft deflection applied to a well placed through-ball from James Brooker. Reigate weathered a period with ten men after Tom Crees was sin-binned for an untidy challenge on a Southampton midfielder but the efficiency of Reigate's centre backs Arran Wood and Matt Alexander meant Southampton were still living off slim pickings despite their brief numerical advantage. Reigate completed the rout with two minutes remaining as Pickersgill's audacious pass put James Chesterton through to beat the last man and dispatch Reigate's seventh.

Reigate head to league leaders Bournemouth on Saturday with heads held high and confident of springing a surprise on their unbeaten hosts.

Match report written by James Chesterton.

Reigate Priory: Williams, Morris, Wood, Alexander, Crees, Yates, Beel, Owen, Brooker, Chesterton, Podd, Pickersgill, Heskey-Rankin.