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Wednesday, November 19, 2008, 09:22
Street 4
Street made it four wins on the bounce with a remarkable 4-3 victory at Dawlish in the FA Carlsberg Vase on Saturday.
Dawlish, who are currently in second spot in the Premier Division of the Western League, were undone by a rampant Street side who deserved the win – the victory being more emphatic than the scoreline might suggest.
Dawlish are most people's favourites to win the Western League this season, with their strikeforce in particular being in prolific form, but Street, who are still missing leading goalscorer Dave Pearse through injury, still managed to find the back of the net on four occasions against a pretty mean defence.
Street manager Dave Pople has assembled a much stronger squad this season, with more quality and strength in depth and that was certainly in evidence on Saturday as Street were also missing Kye Palmer (suspended) and Ben Higgins.
One of the newcomers, youngster Max Cushing, who was making his debut, gave Street the lead on 20 minutes when he headed home a Martin Pople cross.
As expected, Dawlish put pressure on the Street back-line as the half progressed and only the safe and confident handling of Ben Webb, who dealt with every cross that was thrown at him, kept the home side at bay.
Dawlish got the equaliser they deserved moments before the interval when Gary Fisher slotted the ball home from a Darren Vickery pass.
The home defence were caught cold at the start of the second half as Tom Clifford-Jones scored from close range as the home side failed to clear a corner – the central defender's fourth goal in three games. Street increased their advantage to 3-1 with the goal of the game on the hour. Webb's long goal kick found Martin Pople, whose exquisite first touch found Jon Cox and he sent a thunderbolt from 22 yards into the roof of the net via the underside of the crossbar.
Street's territorial advantage saw them move smoothly into a 4-1 lead when James Bisgrove, who had been a danger to the Dawlish defence throughout, scored the goal he deserved with a fine low shot under the keeper from 12 yards.
Street almost threw away their excellent work in the closing stages as they conceded two late soft goals. Anthony Lynch reduced the arrears to 4-2 after Street had failed to clear a corner and, after Webb denied Joe Bushin with a wonderful save at full stretch, Dan Milner turned a Lee Fenner cross into his own net.
Street came close to shooting themselves in the foot, but, despite those two late lapses, this was a Cobblers performance out of the top drawer.
Street have drawn Bitton at home in the next round on Saturday, December 6. Street are away again on Saturday as they travel to Chard in the league.
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