Seven-goal Parker fires Stratford Town youth to record win
FOOTBALL
Stratford Town Youth 14-0 Redditch United
Midland Floodlit Youth League
Report by Bryan Hale
BLINK and you would have missed a goal as Nick Ballinger’s Stratford Town youth side overwhelmed Redditch with a record breaking scoreline in this MFYL Premier Division South fixture at the MoodChimp Stadium on Thursday evening.
The goal machine that is the Town Youth skipper Dylan Parker initiated the rout with a hat-trick in the opening 11 minutes and Town were 10-0 ahead at the interval before going on to add another four in the second half with club historian and Town youth secretary Alan Hawkins confirming that it was their biggest win ever.
Parker had already had one effort held by the Reds keeper and fired another into the side netting before the carnage began in the eighth minute. A flowing Town move cut through the Reds defence ending with Tom Rowe’s pass inside providing Parker with a straightforward opportunity to give Town the lead.
Two minutes later Parker latched on to a long clearance from keeper Archie Donaldson to sprint clear down the inside right channel and lob the ball over the advancing keeper to make it two, and barely 60 seconds later a close-range finish completed his treble for 3-0.
Parker and Town had a fourth on 18 minutes as the striker seized on a Redditch mistake to run through and round the keeper,
It became five for Town in the 22nd minute but this time it was Sacha Everard on the scoresheet turning the ball in after the Reds defenders had failed to clear a right-wing corner, but Parker couldn’t be kept out of the action for long and on 28 minutes he capitalised on some smart work by Harry Hartin to hit his fifth and Town’s sixth.
Another ruthless finish on the half hour mark made it Parker six and Town seven but there was then an almost ten minute lull as everyone seemingly took a deep breath before Town powered in a further three in the closing six minutes of the half.
Right-back Harry Jones made it 8-0 with a well-struck 20-yarder followed almost immediately by Ben Couki’s shot from the edge of the penalty area being deflected in off a defender.
Then in the last minute of the half a fiercely-hit drive from Yusuf Saleem was parried by the keeper and inevitably it was Parker who pounced on the rebound to add his seventh and propel Town into double figures.
To their credit the Reds showed plenty of spirit after the restart as they enjoyed their best spell of the game, but Donaldson capably dealt with a couple of decent on-target efforts, and normal service soon resumed at the other end.
Bradley West hit Town’s 11th in the 65th minute with a stunning volley into the roof of the net as he met Parker’s cross from the right without breaking his stride, and a couple of minutes later Hartin made it 12-0 with an exquisite lob as the keeper rashly charged well out of his area to try to close him down.
Couki added his second and Town’s 13th from a West pass, and with a quarter of an hour to go Dan Atkins completed an incredible evening with header from inside the six yard box to make it 14-0.
Incredibly Parker didn’t add to his tally in the second half although he went close to doing so more than once. In Town Youth’s six games so far this season his total now stands at 13, added to which he has also netted another 12 in his weekend appearances for FC Stratford as his phenomenal scoring streak shows no sign of ending any time soon.
Town Youth return to action next Thursday (12 October) when they have a home tie against Bedworth United in the first round of the Joel Richards Memorial Cup (formerly the Birmingham County FA Midweek Youth Cup).
Kick off time at the MoodChimp Stadium will be 7.45 pm.
