All the goals from our 4-0 victory at home to Aylesbury United
MK Irish made it two pre-season victories from two so far after an excellent 4-0 win over Aylesbury United on Tuesday night.
A brief pre-match downpour before bright sunshine at kick-off made for perfect, zippy conditions for football at Manor Fields for our first pre-season game at home.
It was the first half that saw the majority of the action, with three goals in quick succession from Ryan Smith, Mason Spence and George Shrieves sweeping the opposition away before Mason Davis sealed the victory in the second half.
Within the first five minutes of the game, some neat link up and a quick one-two on the edge of the box from Stephen Brooks and Ty Ward resulted in the first shot of the game, as Ward found space and drove in a low strike that was comfortable for the goalkeeper.
The early exchanges were fairly even with both sides stringing good passages of play together, and the visitors were next to threat on goal with two chances in quick succession.
An overload on the left side saw the Aylesbury winger with space to shoot, before Clinton Zawe got across quickly to block the effort.
The resulting corner wasn’t cleared at the first attempt by Irish and fell kindly to United’s number 9, who couldn’t keep his volleyed shot down and blazed well over the bar.
A 25 yard free kick on the right-hand side of the box was whipped in low towards goal by Ryan Smith, who looked to take advantage of the greasy surface however the Aylesbury keeper got down well to save.
The home side started to up the pressure as the midpoint of the first half approached.
First it was Mason Spence, making his first appearance back at Manor Fields after rejoining MK Irish, who found space on the edge of the area before shooting from distance, however his strike was deflected and kindly popped up into the goalkeeper’s arms.
George Shrieves tested the goalkeeper almost immediately after, finding space on the right and driving a high effort towards goal that was stopped well.
The pressure told soon after as Irish took the lead after a lovely, free-flowing attacking move.
Picking up the ball in midfield was Ryan Smith, who fizzed a ball across the turf and out wide to Andre Olukanmi.
The winger took a couple of touches forwards and down the line before curling a cross with pace into the box, where Smith, who had made a late run into the box after playing the initial pass, was waiting to power a header past the keeper and into the net to make it 1-0.
The lead was so nearly doubled just five minutes later, as Olukanmi almost grabbed another for himself after his hat-trick against Easington Sports at the weekend.
Driving in field from the right-hand side, George Shrieves looked up and played a pass into Olukanmi’s feet, who seemed to have done all the hard work after cutting back inside on to his right foot, beating his defender.
His shot was aimed towards the near post and was just about turned away by the United goalkeepers trailing leg, who was diving across goal.
The visitors were now struggling to get out and the Irish pressure continued as the home team looked increasingly confident and comfortable knocking the ball around.
Some wonderful movement and give and go play saw Olukanmi in space on the right after switching sides with Shrieves, before he cut back inside on to his favoured left foot and whipped a fierce effort in towards the far top corner which needed saving well.
The first save of the game for Owusu Kyeremateng in the Irish goal came after a pass in behind Zawe saw Aylesbury’s number 7 through on goal, however Kyeremateng was quick off of his line and got down to meet the shot well.
Irish responded well to the threat on their goal and shortly after they had another chance to double the lead, with Ty Ward threading a perfectly weighted through ball into Shrieves’ path, but his first time effort was again thwarted by the busy visting goalkeeper.
And a few moments later, the Kyeremateng save seemed a distant memory as Irish cemented a dominant first half performance by making it 2-0.
A deep cross in from the right was met by Ryan Smith, who was directly involved in the goal again as he looped a header back across goal where Spence was waiting to nod in from close range.
On the cusp of the half time break, things got even better for the home side as Shrieves added a wonderful third goal.
Picking up the ball in his right-wing position, Shrieves drove inside directly towards goal and some smart runs around him from the Spence and Olukanmi dragged the Aylesbury defenders away.
Shrieves still had work to do and after looking up and seeing the space in front of him he kept his composure well and confidently slotted past the keeper into the far corner to make it 3-0.
As the rain started to fall again, an unchanged Irish side emerged for the second half looking to build on such a strong first half performance.
Luke Gardener and George Boland came on five minutes in, replacing Stephen Brooks and Ty Ward.
It was Mason for Mason just after, as youngster Davis replaced returning Spence up top, before Keelan Shand came on for Liam Smyth.
Both sides struggled to find their feet in the second half, with little to no threat on either goal before Irish further increased the lead with around 25 minutes to go.
A corner from the right was crossed in by Ryan Smith, Aylesbury couldn’t get it away and it fell at the feet of Mason Davis who turned it home for his first goal in Irish colours, making it 4-0.
The changes continued for the home side as Ollie Coleman was brought on for Nathan Smith.
Nathan Smith almost grabbed himself a second in stunning fashion, firing in a 25-yard free kick which was heading for top right corner before being tipped just over the bar.
Aylesbury very nearly pulled one back late on after Kyeremateng spilled a cross that dropped fortuitously to an opposition attacker, who couldn’t convert into an open goal, seeing his shot crash off the underside of the bar and onto the line.
The full-time whistle went shortly after, calling time on a dominant home display at Manor Fields.
