Canham flattens Marine

The Southern League’s top goal scorer Sean Canham put on a master class of finishing as the former Exeter City man fired four goals in Team Bath’s 5-0 home demolition of inconsistent Swindon Supermarine.

The visitors had started well with captain Kyle Lapham twice testing Bath keeper Darren Chitty from long range and Richard Kear also going close. However as the hosts settled they began to find room amongst Supermarine’s makeshift backline. The deadlock was broken on 17minutes when the lively Takumi Ake beat his man to fire in a low drive past keeper Tom King. Marine looked to regain immediate parity but Ashley Edenborough saw his effort well held by Chitty.

The turning point of the match came on 24 minutes with Canham hitting the first of a remarkable seven-minute hat-trick. A long cross field ball cut apart the visitors and despite strong offside protests, Canham was picked out unmarked at the back post to coolly slot home.

If his first was questioned for offside the second was merely to be admired.
Again a long ball caused confusion amongst the visitor’s rearguard and Canham took full advantage, sending a delightfully weig hted ball above the advancing Tom King and into an empty net.

Canham rounded off his quick fire hat-trick with a well taken solo goal after Dean Smith threaded a neat through ball to find him in space. With 12 minutes of the first half still remaining there was time for Canham to go close to piling further misery on the visitors but King and then Lapham kept the halftime scoreline at 4-0.

The second half was a much more subdued affair in comparison to the goal fest before the interval but when Canham was found once again in space he made sure with a confident finish to take his league goals tally to 18 for the season.

Marine fought to keep the score ine down and to their credit never gave in but their miserable afternoon was compounded when with 10 minutes to play, Gary Horgan saw a second yellow and a subsequent red for a late tackle.

Swindon Supermarine manager Mark Collier remained philosophical despite his side’s torrid day out:

"As a team we are always learning and today is a lesson learnt.

"We never get carried away when we win so we won’t get too despondent with this result."

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Horgan knows best

Midfielder Gary Horgan has returned to Southern League Premier side Swindon Supermarine over ten years after he began his senior footballing career with the club.

Horgan, who made a midweek switch from league rivals Mangotsfield United, played for the Wiltshire outfit in the Hellenic league, and after years of playing football at higher levels, the club have finally caught back up with him.

Horgan will make his debut this Saturday at home to Banbury United in a game that sees boss Mark Collier without SIX key players.

The ill-disciplined encounter with Chippenham two weeks ago will result in captain Leigh Henry and forward Nathan Lightbody missing the first of three games, whilst striker Jason Welsh and Henry’s defensive partner, Cedric Abraham, will sit just this one out.

To add to the availability crisis, midfielder JP Mills is out of the country for two weeks whilst striker Richard Kear, who has been hitting the goal trail in recent weeks, is laid low by flu.
With his options limited Collier is expecting his squad to be stretched to its limits.

“We have always said to compete in this league we need a big squad and this is a real test of that.

“The lads that come in will be showing us that they deserve a starting position so we expect big performances.”

Henry and Abraham have just begun to forge a settled defensive partnership with both players catching the eye of higher league clubs, so to have both out is a massive blow for Collier.

“They have been playing really well together, to replace one is always going to be hard, to replace both is an absolute nightmare.”

Stuart Pearson, Chris Thompson and Chris Copp are all possibilities to cover the unfamiliar positions at centre half, while last week’s star man Ashley Edenborough will be set to line up by himself if Kear is unfit.

Banbury are languishing in mid table alongside Marine but come in to this game on the back of a seven match unbeaten run. With both sides setting their sights on a top half finish this game promises to be an entertaining encounter.

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