Elston United made it five wins and a draw from their first six league games of the season following a hard-earned win away against The Rossoneri. Goals from James Clark, Thomas Hazelwood, and Kieran Adams moved Elston up to fourth position in Division 2, although The Clams have two or three games in hand on the teams around them.

After a quiet start to the game, Elston scored in the sixth minute when James Scott found Clark on the left-hand side of the box, and Elston’s striker made no mistake with a crisp, left-foot strike into the bottom corner. If Elston thought that the floodgates were about to open, they were to be disappointed. The Rossoneri started to build possession and Elston had to work hard to keep the home side at arm’s length and limit the number of goalscoring chances.

The game turned in the 32nd minute, however, when Thomas Hazelwood replaced the unfortunate Harry Johnson, who was suffering with an illness. Hazelwood immediately made a difference in midfield, pressing The Rossoneri players and inspiring his team mates to do the same. While the half-time score remained 1-0 to Elston, the visitors doubled their lead soon after the re-start when Hazelwood made a strong run down the left wing. Clark was able to release Hazelwood with a clever pass and the Elston substitute made no mistake with a low shot that beat the advancing goalkeeper.

With 30 minutes remaining, Elston made a series of substitions. Rui Thacker, Will Veys and Keiran Adams came on for Sam Lloyd, Teddy Furman and Clark, and all three made a positive impact. Veys created two goalscoring opportunities, and Adams returned the favour when Veys only just failed to poke home his low cross. In the 75th minute, however, Adams secured the victory with a precise low shot from the edge of the box into the bottom left-hand corner of The Rossoneri’s goal, and while the home side grabbed a consolation goal in the 83rd minute Elston comfortably held on to earn their fifth win of the campaign.

Elston United: Sam Adcock, Barney Repper (Dan Thurman 71), James Smith, Toby Craven, Xander Millar, Sam Lloyd (Rui Thacker 61), Jake Ledbetter, Harry Johnson (Thomas Hazelwood 32), James Scott, Teddy Furman (Will Veys 64), Thacker, James Clarke (Kieran Adams 64).