Flowserve turned on the style
NEWARK FLOWSERVE turned on the style to crush an understrength Rainworth Miners’ Welfare 12-0 and move to the cusp of step five football.
Hosts Rainworth looked tired at the end of an arduous season as they laboured to a demoralising defeat, while The Highwaymen played with a spring in their step as they looked ahead to a golden future.
The win – and a 2-0 defeat at Ingles for promotion rivals Sherwood Colliery – means that the Newarkers are now guaranteed second spot in the East Midlands Counties League, and a win on Monday at West Bridgford will seal promotion under the complicated points per games ratio.
The men in orange couldn’t have got off to a brighter start, with their opening goal coming straight from the kick-off with just 16 seconds having elapsed on the stopwatch.
Tyrell Shannon-Lewis rolled the ball back from the centre spot to Sean Woolley who launched it long downfield. The bounce off the hard ground, baked by a hot sun, was not dealt with, and Sam Agar hooked the ball back into the mix. He linked neatly with Elliot King before racing on and beating the keeper with a shot into the far corner.
It was a great start for a side already boosted by the return of skipper Tom Potts from suspension, while Jammy Lloyd continued in central defence to leave the returning Rhys Lewis on the bench. He took his seat alongside Sol Miller, back in the fold but unable to the claim the right-back berth from Jahred Russell.
Flowserve continued to play in the home side’s half as the traffic at Kirklington Road was very much of the one-way variety, and three more goals followed in the space of three minutes.
The second of the game came on 13 minutes when Ryley Thompson’s long throw was flicked on by the head of Agar and King nipped in at the near post to steer the ball home. King made it three two minutes later before Tyrell Shannon-Lewis capitalised on more haphazard defending shortly after the restart.
King completed his hat-trick as he provided the decisive touch after a period of head tennis with the fifth on 24 minutes, prompting a humourous exchange among Rainworth supporters.
“That’s the idea; let them wear themselves out in the first half,” said one. “And then beat them 6-5,” came the reply.
That plan was scuppered ten minutes later when Agar scored the goal of the game – and his 36th of the season - when he cut inside from the left and launched a thunderbolt into the top corner. Once he had transferred the ball to his right foot, the outcome was as inevitable as sunburn on the arms of the shirt-sleeved spectators who basked in the Easter weekend heatwave.
Six minutes before the break Flowserve were in seventh heaven when Sean Woolley rose the highest to head home Blair Anderson’s corner, and Woolley made it eight just before the referee blew for half-time. If it had been a boxing contest, he would have stopped it.
Seconds after the restart Shannon-Lewis made it nine as Flowserve began where they left off but, ironically, it was the dismissal of the home goalkeeper four minutes later that saw the goals dry up.
Josh Hollis threw the ball at Shannon-Lewis to earn a red card, but Rainworth then took their time over deciding who would replace their errant keeper. By the time that the action was under way once more, the spark had gone out of the game.
King scored again on 68 minutes and added his fifth on 85 minutes, either side of Shannon-Lewis completing his hat-trick in the 82nd minute, but the game had long become a lethargic training session in the heat.
Things will spark into life once more for Flowserve on Monday when a trip to Holme Pierrepoint awaits, with three points against West Bridgford seeing them set sail for new horizons.
Newark Flowserve: 1 Joe Searson; 2 Jahred Russell; 3 Ryley Thompson; 4 Tom Potts (captain); 5 Jammy Lloyd; 6 Sean Woolley (Rhys Lewis HT); 7 Blair Anderson; 8 Danny Meadows (Sol Miller 57mins); 9 Tyrell Shannon-Lewis; 10 Elliot King; 11 Sam Agar (Nathan Kelly HT).
Attendance: 101.