It’s two wins from two for City as they notched a Super 6 of their own in a crushing victory away to Greenways FC.

Two up at the break, followed by four more in the second-half saw City take a six-nil lead before the hosts finally rallied in the last minutes to at least grab a late consolation.

City almost opened the scoring on just three minutes when a fierce Luke Illsley shot was well beaten away by home keeper Dan Stevens and with a strong opening period from the visitors, it didn’t take them too long to go in front. Harry Maher’s break and right-sided cross was perfect for Connor Coyne to ghost in and delicately touch volley the ball past the advancing Stevens and into the net for 1-0.

It was mostly City doing the early pressing – although Simon Kabamba produced some neat defending to fend off a home ball in, while City keeper Tom Benham had to dive across to carefully gather a long-range effort from Ashley Poppy.

City were getting on top though and some ‘robust’ tackling from Greenways understandably wasn’t going down too well as the referee was sometimes caught between cracking down and letting the game flow. City then had a chance to double the lead when another break down the right, this time from Mo Cham opened Greenways up but his pull back just popped up on the bumpy surface causing Coyne – rushing in, to send it well over the bar.

Greenways then briefly thought they had levelled when, after a bit of a scramble in the City box the ball was driven into the top of the net from close range only to see the linesman’s flag raised for an offside.

Harry Sikirwayi then got on the end of an Illsley long throw but could only fire it just over, while at the other end, a couple of half-chances for the hosts both finished well off target.

With four minutes to go until the break, City nearly scored again when after searching and probing for an opening on the edge of the box, Coyne’s lovely touch saw Cham’s firm shot superbly tipped away to safety by a diving Stevens.

He could do nothing on the stroke of half-time however when City did double their lead and it was another super strike from Leighton Murray. Last week’s special was all about power, this one was pure skill and guile. A break down the right saw Greenways backtracking again as Coyne shifted the ball across the edge of the box to Maher. Meanwhile Murray, who was steaming in down the left shouted ‘one more’ and without looking Maher then helped it on into his path. Murray steadied himself and looked up before opening up his body and planting a sumptuous ball goalward, bending it around Stevens who was diving at full length, curling it low and past him and into the far side of the net for 2-0 – a fabulous goal!

It was just what City needed as well to put a fairer reflection on how the half had gone and they then looked set fair for the second half.

Murray however did not re-emerge for the restart, as just before the break, he had taken a bit if a buffeting while defending a Greenways corner so was replaced by Jake McCarthy.

Cham soon went close to extending the lead but fired wide as he slipped while taking the shot, but the third quickly arrived and it was the aforementioned McCarthy who created it. A quick burst of pace down the left saw him carry the ball up-field before riding a challenge and sending over a great far post cross. Coyne rose to head it firmly only to see Stevens parry it up and off the bar, but Coyne was quickest to react, heading the rebound in from about a yard out with the keeper falling to the ground and stranded for 3-0.

Cham then did well to work himself into a goal-scoring position but saw his shot blocked out by a last ditch defensive tackle and although City seemed in control, Greenways did try to hit back with a couple of distance efforts which were both safely and securely fielded by Benham.

City made some changes and as in previous games, this doesn’t seem to disrupt them as the replacements slip smoothly into the set-up. One of those was Petar Radojevic and he added an almost identical assist to last week’s with a clever little nod through that found the impressive Maher. He moved forward and, seeming to have acres of space, he lashed a low shot home from around twenty-five yards out for a lovely sweet strike and 4-0 to City.

It was all City now and Radojevic himself went close narrowly heading over his brother Luka’s free-kick before Cham then forced Stevens into another good, low save to keep the score to four.

Not for long though because Maher then struck again, going on a mazy and arcing run through the home ranks before notching his second and beating Stevens who just managed to get a hand to it but couldn’t prevent the ball from nestling in the net.

The fabulous five then turned into a super six when Cham finally and deservedly got himself on the scoresheet too. Battling his way through several challenges and twisting and turning into the box, he forced an opening before calmly sliding the ball home for 6-0.

With the game long since lost, Greenways, to their credit continued to plug away but continually looked to lack any real threat on Benham’s goal. Maher was then unlucky not to sore his third as he ploughed his way through into the box only to see his shot blocked away.

With just four minutes remaining, a soft corner conceded by City then suddenly had Greenways in over-drive! It was played short and then swung into the far post where a downward header was brilliantly pushed away to safety by Benham at point-blank range and was then hastily cleared. The long throw that followed fell to someone on the edge of the box and a shot was thumped in which rattled the City bar, but it eventually came back out to former City favourite Chris Webber, who rifled the ball into the back of the net from just outside the box for 6-1 and what was really only a late, if rather annoying – from City’s point of view, consolation.

They might have grabbed a second too as in the last minute of normal time, a free-kick was swung in with Ibs Goswell just seeing his free header narrowly clear the bar. The referee soon called time on what was undoubtedly a clear and clinical victory for City and an excellent start to the new campaign!

Final score: Greenways FC 1 Canterbury City 6