Second-from-bottom Cowes Sports FC suffered a heavy home defeat at the hands of second-from-top AFC Stoneham on Saturday.
The Yachtsmen made 4 changes to the starting line up from the team that had gone down 4-2 away to Hamble last Saturday. In came Mitchell Ricketts, Joe White, Morgan Perrin and George Carter-Wright, who took the places of Dom Sexton, Tom Dye, Ewan Cranwell and Fin Phillips.
The Island side showed plenty of attacking intent over the first half hour of the game. First, Jared Wetherick had a strong shot saved by Stoneham keeper, Tom Parker Trott. Then, Jimmy Wykes went on a menacing run at the Stoneham defence, but could only manage a weak shot.
A few minutes later, it was Jared Wetherick’s turn to head just over the away team’s crossbar. Then, the big centre forward set up Jimmy Wykes to score, only for his effort to be ruled offside.
Cowes were punished for their profligacy in front of goal in the 33rd minute, when Scott Hills scored the opening goal for the away side. Edu Jiminez then gave the visitors a 0-2 advantage when he swooped onto a ball that had been parried by Cowes keeper, Ed Hatt.
HT: Cowes Sports 0-2 AFC Stoneham
The Yachtsmen were given renewed hope on the hour mark, when Jimmy Wykes was brought down in the penalty area for Michael McEnery to pull a goal back from the resulting spot kick
and reduce the deficit to 1-2. Stoneham replied by hitting the post, before captain Ash Brett latched onto a misplaced back pass in a dangerous position, only to have his shot stopped by the Stoneham keeper.
From this point in the game, the visitors showed their class, with Scott Hills adding a second goal from a deflected shot that wrong footed Cowes keeper Hatt, to make the score 1-3. Marcel Laptas than added a fourth for the away side, before Alex Welch completed the rout by adding a fifth for Stoneham three minutes from the final whistle.
FT: Cowes Sports 1-5 AFC Stoneham
Cowes Sports: Hatt, C White, Ricketts, Bryan, J White, Brett, Perrin, Carter-Knight, Wetherick, McEnery Subs: Nash, Snow, Dye, McFarlane, Law
Defeat leaves Cowes Sports in 19th position in the Wessex Premier with 11 points from 23 games, 9 points from safety from relegation.
The Yachtsmen play mid-table Fareham Town on Tuesday night (28th January). Kick off is at 19:45. A full match report will appear in Island Echo.
With only one team going down this season, Cowes are not 9 points from relegation safety as mentioned in your report.