Caister 6 Brandon 0

Caister kicked off the season in style on the hottest day of the year at Allendale Road. Caister only had one notable absentee in the shape of Kieran Hack so lined up with a strong squad to welcome Brandon Town for their opening Anglian Combination Division One game.

The opening exchanges were very closely fought out and both sides had chances to take the lead. Brandon came the closest when a deep cross was won by the Brandon forward and headed on to the bar, the ball was cleared to safety and Caister breathed a sigh of relief.

Caister were playing some very nice football from back to front starting with fullbacks Macgregor and Blake who again both had impressive games. Sweeping moves were creating good chances for Heller , the Ward brothers and particularly Nichols who were vibrant in forward areas and their invention was starting to cause the visitors problems. The deadlock was broken on 25 minutes as a low shot on the turn from Crawley was parried by the keeper but only into the path of Garrett Ward who was eagerly on hand to turn the ball in for Caister’s first goal of the campaign. From this point onwards Caister controlled the game.

Soon after Tom Rowley gave the home side some breathing space, his powerful header into the station from an excellent Anton Ward corner made it two. Just before the break Nicky Crawley scored the goal of the game. He picked up the ball 20 yards out turned the Brandon centre half and smashed a rocket into the roof of the net to give Caister a 3-0 cushion at half time.

After the break Caister again dictated the pace of the game. Lines and Nichols pulled the strings in midfield to allow the forward flair players to ply their trade in the safe knowledge that the protection behind them was always there. Anton Ward, who showed great creativity all afternoon, opened his account for the season with a fine free kick. With a few capable around the ball Ward fancied it most and his curling effort flew into the net beautifully giving the keeper no chance sparking rapturous applause from the home supporters.

The ever-dangerous Nicky Crawley grabbed his second and Caister’s fifth with a fine headed finish from an inviting cross from Garrett Ward. Caister were really making Brandon work for the ball and kept possession really well with the ball being knocked about with confidence.

It always seemed that Caister had another gear and for one more time in this game their slick passing was turned into end product when Anton Ward created some space in the box then finished superbly from a very tight angle.

Man of the match was Warren Nichols who did not put a foot wrong, kept things simple but always looked to change things up when it was on with a defence-splitting pass.

The next game is away to Hellesdon. Training is on Tuesday (6.45) at Allendale Road.