Derby Men’s 2nd XI 4-0 Northampton Men’s 2nd XI: Home side cruise to first victory of the season
Words by Jude McMichan
The Derby Men’s 2nd XI received their first victory of the campaign after comfortably defeating Northampton 2nd XI 4-0 in their final home fixture of the calendar year.
An early own goal left the visitors trailing within 60 seconds and Derby took full advantage of the incident after further goals from Natty Smith and Yeshg Briar rounded up the scoring.
The first of the contest came on a plate for the home side, who had not touched the ball before Olajuwon Quadri’s heavy back-pass rolled past Martin Arnauchkov and into the net within the first minute.
After going a goal up so early, Derby took full control throughout the first period and received an opportunity to extend their lead midway through the half when Smith was fouled just inside the penalty area. He dusted himself down and stepped up, hammering the ball into the roof of the net to double the advantage.
The home side continued their dominance after the break and that paid minutes later as Thierry Fang’s powerful header found the unmarked Smith in the perfect position to extend the lead to three, which he made no mistake in doing.
The hosts were not done there though as they made it four with the game entering its final stages. A great passage of play left Briar with an empty to goal and he netted the fourth, capping off a brilliant performance for Derby.