On a pleasant warm evening Warstones Wanderers Community were the visitors and were on the end of a 5-0 defeat after conceding four second half goals.

In only his 2nd game in charge Manager Matty Lovatt took the opportunity to watch nine more players in action after making six changes from the side that beat Romulus 2-0 the previous weekend. He gave a full debut to Dan Jones and recalled Paul Ibhadon, Jakub Pawlowski, Tyrike Richards- Burke, Hayden Seymour and skipper Ezekiel Agyemang to the starting line up. Connor Archer reverted to the bench with Under 18s striker Leon Bennett , Mohammed Kourouma and Mason Stevens all making second half substitute appearances.

Darlaston went into the game as favourites playing three levels above their opponents. However the first 45 minutes saw the visitors match Darlaston blow for blow. Whilst Darlaston had the edge in quality the visitors gave an impressive account of themselves, with an excellent work rate, maintaining their shape and balance including some excellent defensive work to deny the home side. Nathan James ploughed a lone furrow up front but at times he gave the home defence a difficult time.

The only goal of the first half came courtesy of Tyrike Richards-Burke A perfectly executed clearance by keeper Tom Carter found Richards burke who cut inside his marker to slot home with a superbly placed shot.

With the visitors tiring in the second half, gaps began to appear and the quality of Darlaston became more evident with Fin Douglas, Nathan Oyemade , Jones and Agyemang all missing chances as a result of poor finishing and some excellent defending.

Within minutes of the restart, Darlaston breached a resolute Warstones defence for the 2nd time, Jordan Davies scoring with a powerful 12 yard drive. The third quickly followed, this time Davies the provider setting up skipper Agyemang to slip the ball beyond the onrushing keeper.

Agyemang netted his 2nd goal of the game heading home from a Nathan Oyemade free kick,

The biggest roar of the night came when 17 years old youth team product Leon Bennett netted his first senior goal for the club. Agyemang setting up the youngster to drive hard and low for the fifth goal, giving the keeper no chance from 12 yards.

After the game Manager Matty Lovatt reflected" Firstly all credit to Warstones Wanderers Community. In the first half particularly they fought tenaciously and whilst we fully deserved our half time lead, they were still truly in the game. The second half we passed the ball really well, kept up our intensity and as they tired we took advantage with some very good goals. I was delighted with youngster Leon Bennett. I had heard very good things about him and I wanted to give him an opportunity to show me what he can do. He did not disappoint , his aggression and quality on the ball, demonstrated to me he has a good career ahead of him. Playing league games against stronger Step 5 opposition is a big step up so he might have to bide his time but he will get more first team opportunities as he grows, develops and matures and I cannot wait to see how he develops.

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