Purfleet 3 Bedford 0

CLIFF'S GOAL STARTS AVALANCHE!

An amazing 8 minute spell, that began virtually on the hour, was enough to catapult Fleet into 2nd place in the League.

In the early stages of the game both sides cancelled each other out by way of excellent defending. I that statement needed qualifying then it can be easily done by saying that neither keeper had a worthwhile shot to save bar the usual efforts.

Most of Fleets best attacks came via good movement up front from Cliff Akurang and Wayne Vaughan. In the Fleet midfield Martyn Lawrence stood out and played a superb game over the full 90 minutes.

There was a lot of endeavour and effort by both sides but it was a half where both defences stood firm.

It seemed for all the world that the second half would be a similar story during the first 15 minutes when suddenly the game took on a whole new direction.

A Paul Linger corner from Fleet left hand side saw Cliff Akurang react quicker than the visitors defence for him to head home from close range in the 56th minute to give Fleet a 1 - 0 lead.
This sparked an amazing 8 minutes of play from Fleet when just three minutes later the outstanding Terry Bowes put Wayne Vaughan through and the former Canvey man's inch perfect cross was met on the volley by Man of the Match Martyn Lawrence from close range to make it 2 - 0.

As the 63rd minute approached Paul Linger floated in a free kick which was headed home by a visiting defender to seal the match, 3 - 0 for The Fleet.

The large Bank Holiday crowd must have enjoyed this game, especially the Fleet fans as we are now unbeaten in the first four games. The only goal conceded is the penalty at Hampton & Richmond Borough last Saturday.

Cliff Akurang was delighted to have scored and after the game he said " I was really pleased with the goal. I consider heading to be one of my main strengths and it was nice to get one today. I think we can do well this season and I hope my form will continue to improve as we go along".

Another of Fleet's heroes of this match, Steve Pashley said of the victory, " it was a hard first half but we defended well when we had to but the first goal took all the pressure off of us. I think people who come here to watch us know that we have a quality squad and if everyone stays fit, we will have a good season".