Newlands crush Ayton to complete double

Ben Luntley and Ryan Cooper’s side dominated right from the off, Stew Bates opening the scoring in under one minute to set the tone for the evening.

Park really didn’t have to get out of first gear before they doubled their lead, skipper Matty Griffiths taking full advantage of a mistake by Ayton player-boss Mark Plumpton before firing past keeper Alex Glass.

Newlands were looking dangerous every time they ventured into Ayton territory and it was soon 3-0, Bates grabbing his second as he swept in on the volley after a neat build-up outside the box.

Keeper Glass was the busier of the two custodians, first fumbling a tame effort and almost costing his side another goal, before making up for that error moments later with a superb reaction stop at the back post.

Bates wrapped up his hat-trick to make it 4-0, tapping in Niall Gibb’s superb drilled cross.

The goal of the game made it 5-0 heading into the break.

Striker Drew McCoubrey was fouled to the right of the area and he showed a bit of quick thinking as he dragged the free-kick back to the edge of the box to Kile Fields, who rammed a scintillating strike into the bottom corner.

Newlands could easily have taken their foot off the gas after the break with the game won and another final against rivals Trafalgar coming up next Tuesday, but they continued to go at Ayton.

It was 6-0 when Bates netted his fourth after rounding Glass and firing high into the roof of the net and player-boss Ryan Cooper then lashed past Glass to make it 7-0.

The impressive Bates fired in his fifth to make it 8-0 before Ayton hit back with a goal of their own.

Centre-back Leigh Watson, who had been solid all game at the heart of Park’s back three, gifted the ball to Tyson Stubbings, who made no mistake in smashing past keeper Callum Myers.

Their joy was shortlived however as skipper Griffiths bundled over the line from sub Liam Cooper’s free-kick from out wide to complete the scoring and a comfortable night’s work for Park.

Five-goal Bates, central midfielder Jack Hakings and left wing-back Niall Gibb shone for dominant Park, while Ayton looked demoralised after conceding an early goal and looked short of confidence throughout.

Park boss Luntley was delighted with his side’s efforts.

He said: “It made a huge difference playing on such a good pitch up here, that was possibly the best we’ve played all season.

“To get that early goal was huge, but we just kept going at them and Drew and Stew never let up.

“We were wary of Tuesday and wanted to go into that game with a bit of momentum so it was good to get a comfortable win.

“We have a big game Tuesday night.”