Another job well done as City move six points clear at the top of the table, albeit having played more matches than all of their close – and some not so close rivals!

A goal in each half earned them the points this week as Halls started well but faded in the first period and then huffed and puffed in the second without really causing City too much alarm – although they could have done if a couple of openings they did create had been much better finished!

The opening minutes saw the early pressure coming from the hosts who started on the front foot with City keeper Tom Benham safely fielding a first-minute home strike. They also employed a series of long and semi-long throws from both sides, all of which City defended away well.

City’s first strike came in the eighth minute when a long range effort from Zack Jobe saw home keeper Dan Smithers scrambling across to push the ball round the post for a corner, before Jamie Obianigwe then put Mo Cham through but Smithers stood strong this time making a smart two-handed blocking save from close range.

City were now getting well into their stride and Khavarn Williams was next to test the keeper, but Smithers made a bit of a meal of saving the low shot spilling it past the post for a needless corner. City pressed from the dead ball and Luke Illsley saw his shot blocked and as they recycled it well, the same fate also befell Rob Lawrence with his effort. Again City kept possession and the ball fell back out to Williams who then flashed another shot across the goal but wide of the far post.

The pressure finally told however when City took the lead on twenty-two minutes. It was a well worked goal as well starting with Illsley’s giant clearance from the back being swiftly moved though the midfield before being fed to Jobe on the right. He bustled his way forward dodging and riding various challenges before pulling the ball across to the well positioned Cham who took a touch before drilling it powerfully home for 1-0.

An opportunist strike from around halfway by Lawrence was then safely retrieved by Smithers before Cham broke through the inside-left channel only to see his low shot fly just past the far post.

The hosts then had the perfect chance to level the game up when a free-kick was hoisted into the City box and as Benham rose to push it away under pressure, it fell nicely for David Stevens but from close in, he blazed the ball high and over the bar.

Harry Sikirwayi then did well to find Williams out on the right and he weaved his way in only to see his low shot arrowed across the keeper but fly wide of the far post, before City went closer just minutes later when Obianigwe’s well engineered ball in narrowly evaded two City players in front of an open goal before being cleared to safety.

As the half drew to a close, there was an exchange of well placed attacking free-kicks. Firstly, the hosts were awarded theirs right on the edge of the City box and Mark Adofo did well to get the ball up and over the wall, but as it floated somewhat towards the goal, Benham was in the right place to just push it calmly over the bar.

At the other end City’s was more centrally placed and a lot further out and, in an almost well worked routine, it was cleverly lifted into Illsley who ran through and smashed the ball into the net only to see the offside flag already raised, so City were just a goal up at the break but very good value for the lead so far.

The second-half wasn’t quite as busy, disrupted as it was by a number of stoppages and substitutions but despite the hosts plugging away in pursuit of an equaliser, after an early glaring miss, they rarely really troubled City and once the second goal had gone in that was really game over.

The miss referred to came just a minute or so after the restart. Grego Petrovics had just seen his shot brilliantly thwarted by Luke Radojevic who launched himself across to block it but at the expense of a throw. This was hurled into the City box and fell nicely for Junior Amusan, but from right in front of goal, he blasted the ball miles over the bar and away towards the car park!

Petrovics then hooked a bouncing ball just wide of the City goal from deep inside the box and after that, Halls had little else to offer by way of direct goal threat.

City though were soon back in control as Jobe threw himself at a Williams cross but just failed to make contact while Lawrence saw a good effort blocked and a couple of City free-kicks then couldn’t prise the home defence open as the visitors sought what would probably be a decisive second goal. They nearly got it too when a masterly piece of control on the sideline by Williams followed by a cracking ball played into space down the right had Jobe surging forward at pace. He cut inside and tried to curl a shot around Smithers and inside the far post but it just had too much on it, beating the keeper but also the upright.

On eighty minutes, City scored their second and effectively ended the contest. A build-up down the right was well worked and Sean Aromolaran suddenly saw Lawrence intelligently bursting forward into space and duly found him with a pinpoint pass through the lines. Lawrence took a step or two forward and then smashed the ball past Smithers and into the net for a super goal and a much deserved 2-0 score-line.

City looked hungry for a third and in the time that remained they dominated the attacking play as Liam Hark struck wide from distance, Aromolaran just cleared the bar with a snap-shot before seeing another blocked before finally, Sikirwayi’s brilliant dribble into the box deserved a better ending as Harry Maher took the ball on and slid it agonisingly just past the post.

A good day for City, a very good all-round team performance and two excellent goals to cap it off and several other results worked in their favour as well so there was definitely some brightness in the damp grey and the gloom of a chilly February Erith Community Stadium afternoon!

Final score: Halls AFC 0 Canterbury City 2.