A solid, strong and professional performance from City as they secured all the points and three goals against Halls AFC at Hartsdown Park.

It was fairly straightforward for them as they controlled large parts of the game and were rarely threatened, with stand in keeper Dan Smith having a fairly trouble-free afternoon.

The opening period was nip and tuck with opportunities at both ends. Zack Jobe forced an early save from Halls keeper Daniel Smithers, while the same player then saw his header from Sean Aromolaran’s cross drift just wide. In between Halls went close when some clever play from Yokow Crankson down the left set up Dekklund Wallace on the edge of the box, but he curled his shot just wide of the City upright.

Once the visitors’ initial tempo had begun to fade though, it was City making the majority of the attacking plays. Smithers was soon being kept very busy, firstly punching clear Jamie Obianigwe’s dangerous cross and then making comfortable saves from Harry Sikirwayi and two from Aromolaran. A lovely move down the City left involving Jobe and Jake McCarthy saw the ball rolled back to Aromolaran on the edge of the box but his goal bound effort took a nick off a defender to give City a corner. This, plus one other and a long throw from Luke Illsley all peppered the Halls box but were by and large dealt with by Smithers and his defenders.

They couldn’t deal with City deservedly taking the lead on twenty-two minutes though when the impressive Aromolaran created City’s opener. Breaking down the right, he pulled off this lovely feint sending a defender completely the wrong way before knocking the ball past him and into space where he fired off a rocket of a shot that Smithers did well to get down to. The keeper could only parry the ball away however and unfortunately for him, Connor Coyne following in, rifled the loose ball home for 1-0.

City almost doubled their lead just minutes later when Aromolaran’s corner was flicked on with pace and Coyne, charging in, could only hurriedly deflect the ball back towards goal but it cannoned off the cross bar and Halls were able to clear.

The visitors were generally struggling to get forward but a decent ball in by Bradley Johnson was well fielded by the alert Smith and then some nice hold-up play by Wallace set leading scorer Zack Mannings up for a shot, but he badly spiralled that well wide and over the new hoardings and into the trees!

City did have further chances to increase their lead up to the break. A flowing move started by Liam Hark eventually saw McCarthy dig out a terrific cross which Obianigwe headed wide, before Sikirwayi saw a shot well blocked and then Obianigwe and Jobe pulled the Halls defence apart but the latter’s whipped in low cross found no City player there for a simple tap in.

A Jak Taylor corner for Halls was very well taken under pressure by Smith and as the half-time whistle blew it was so far so good for City – a goal to the good and very few demons – if any, to worry them up to now.

The opening salvos after the break were all down the Halls end. Jobe cut inside and saw his sharp shot bring out an equally sharp two-handed save from Smithers as the Halls box came under constant pressure from the hosts. A couple of corners, an attacking free-kick and a powerful long throw all had to be defended before Luka Radojevic thumped a decent looking shot from around thirty-five yards just wide.

City were definitely in control and in the ascendancy and a lovely turn and crisp shot on the edge of the box from Coyne had Smithers looking worried as he was forced to use both hands to hurriedly push the ball up and over his own bar. Some of City’s play was fabulous to see and Coyne’s deft U-turn in midfield and ball down the left was a joy to watch and it found McCarthy overlapping and he in turn, sent in another classic wing-play cross that Jobe – flying in, just couldn’t quite get on the end of for what would probably have been a clear run on goal.

On fifty-five minutes, City’s dominance finally told when they doubled their lead. A corner from the left was sent in by Jobe and Illsley swept in to win the ball and despite Smithers desperately trying to intervene, his determination saw him eventually force it over the line for 2-0.

Illsley then saw his optimistic long range effort fly wide before at the other end – and a good hour into the contest, Smith was at last forced to make a serious save going down to his left and pushing the ball away after Manning had arrowed in a well struck free-kick right from the edge of the City box.

On sixty-seven minutes – if it wasn’t already, City put the game well out of the visitors’ reach when they increased their lead further. We’ve been lucky to see some cracking goals scored by City so far this season and this one would definitely be up their with the best of them. A good build-up saw the ball find McCarthy on the left and he completely hoodwinked a defender with the cleverest and deftest of touches, before taking a couple of paces forward and floating an inch perfect cross into the box which basically had ‘put me in the net please’ written all over it – Jobe duly obliged. Flying in with pace, he thumped a superbly timed header past Smithers giving the keeper no chance for 3-0.

Jobe then saw a shot blocked before Leighton Murray struck a thirty-yard free-kick with venom only to see it beat Smithers but crash against the cross bar with the offside flag then going up as City attempted to force home the rebound.

City were well on top and made plenty of changes as they now sought to just see the game out. Halls had a chance to get a goal back when a centrally placed free-kick was conceded by City just outside their box, but although they had plenty of time to line it up, Manning could only tamely lift the ball over the wall but also over the bar.

The ever busy Smithers then made a decent double save going down well to beat out an effort from substitute Alfie Cragg before then doing the same again – while still on the ground, to deny Murray as he pounced on the rebound.

Halls had really long since ran out of steam as George Clark weakly headed the ball over the bar from a late free-kick as City finished strongly with Cragg firing just wide from afar and Murray seeing his effort deflected out for a corner before six minutes of added time and the game came to an end.

An excellent all-round fluent team performance from City, dominant and controlling, solid and strong and with a sprinkling of sparkling skills added in for good measure!

Final score: Canterbury City 3 Halls AFC 0.