HELLENIC LEAGUE: Fairford boss hails his side (From Swindon Advertiser)

HELLENIC LEAGUE: Fairford boss hails his side

6:00am Monday 18th February 2013 in Sport By Ned Payne

FAIRFORD stormed to a convincing 6-0 victory at North Leigh Reserves in a display manager Paul Braithwaite labelled ‘controlled’.

The Cinder Lane side jumped up to third in Division One West after pulling away in the second half against their Oxfordshire rivals.

Brad Gill got the opener and pressure from skipper Henry Trass resulted in an own goal that sent the visitors into the break 2-0 up.

After the interval Dan Drewett grabbed the third before Alex Rudd converted following Trass’s through-ball.

Rudd completed his brace shortly after and Drewett also got his second to put the polish on a thumping victory.

Boss Braithwaite said: “It wasn’t an easy game but it was a controlled performance.

“We knew North Leigh hadn’t played in a while and they looked pretty unfit to be fair to them.

“In the first half we didn’t make the most of playing up the slope, but in the second half they were having to run about a lot more.

“We controlled the ball and made them work and once they got fed up of chasing we picked them off and got the goals.”

Fairford have six games left of the league season and Braithwaite is still hopeful his side remain in the top three.

The Gloucestershire outfit were relegated from the Hellenic Premier last term and a top-three finish would represent more than mission accomplished for the manager.

“We’re looking to win every single game we’ve got left,” he said.

“We got relegated last year but we’ve rebuilt, we’re solid at the back, strong in goal and we work hard as a team.

“As long as we’re set up right we have the confidence to go and get the results.

“Realistically I’d like to finish fourth and if we can nick third that would be fantastic.

“We’ll see what happens towards the end of the season. Teams will be playing a lot more so they will have more of a chance of catching us up.”