A classic five star performance from Thackley in which five different scorers made their mark saw the team pick up a 5-1 victory over Campion AFC on Wednesday night.

There was one change to the side from last time out against Silsden AFC with Matty Dempsey missing out and Lewis Sugden returning following injury to midfield, meaning Harry Parsons reverted to a centre back position alongside Liam Hudson which he has played already this season a number of times.

From the very start, the Dennyboys made their plan for the game clear despite the tough conditions, with Ben Grech-Brooksbank having a pair of early opportunities in the second and seventh minutes that only just didn’t result in goals.

Chances continued to come in droves for Thackley after these initial efforts, most notably from Luke Rhodes and Slater Barnes, who both had shots that showed promise but ultimately couldn’t find the right spot.

After all their persistence, the Dennyboys would finally take the lead after 21 minutes when a superb corner from the returning Lewis Sugden was delivered perfectly into the box before being headed home by Liam Hudson to secure his second goal in as many games and give Thackley an important lead.

Unfortunately for Danny Forrest’s side, the lead would be short lived when on 24 minutes, Aidan Day would suddenly equalise for Campion when he capitalised on the ball falling perfectly at his feet in the box before he converted well into the bottom left-hand corner to restore level pegging.

Thackley didn’t take long to restore their lead however, when after a good run of pressure following the equaliser, a good move from the team that saw the ball move down from midfield to Antony Brown allowed the forward to race down the wing and then square the ball to Finn Donovan, who made no trouble of his chance and tapped the ball into the net in the 34th minute.

Just as everybody was regrouping following this goal, the Dennyboys were at it again, taking a two goal lead in the 35th minute after Brown and Donovan combined again, allowing the latter to play the ball to Grech-Brooksbank, with the Thackley captain placing the ball into an open net before celebrating with the classic knee slide and giving the team some much needed breathing room in the process.

Chances late in the half from both Barnes and Grech-Brooksbank would follow, but though these couldn’t be converted, the Dennyboys would still enter the half time break with a deserved two goal lead that also left an excellent platform to build on following the interval.

HALF-TIME: Campion AFC 1-3 Thackley AFC

The second half got underway with Thackley still looking the much stronger side and heavily limiting Campion to few chances going forward.

The Dennyboys’ dominance would be further solidified after 59 minutes when after goalkeeper Ed Wilcynski won an initial one on one battle for the ball with Brown, his clearance failed to travel away from danger, allowing Barnes to pounce on the opportunity and chip the ball into an open net from miles outside the box to give Thackley a three goal lead.

As the game moved past the hour mark, the management team opted to make a number of substitutions, including the introduction of Tawheed Ahmed, who almost made an immediate impact from the bench when he was played into a position of promise, but after charging at the keeper in the 69th minute, he could only put his effort wide of the mark and out of play.

The impact of the substitutions would continue to be felt, with Muhammet Tektas coming on and showing promise as the minutes ticked down on the game, though at this stage, consolidation was the main focus for the team.

The icing on the cake was delivered in the 88th minute, with Ahmed scoring a well-deserved goal of his own after a similar predicament to his earlier effort saw him played through before racing towards goal and having an effort that comfortably got the beating of Wilcynski, but this time the ball would find its intended target, hitting the back of the net to round off an all around brilliant showing from Thackley in awful conditions.

FULL-TIME: Campion AFC 1-5 Thackley AFC

This victory represents the perfect response for the Dennyboys after the weekend’s disappointment, with hopes now being very high ahead of the team’s return to Dennyfield on Saturday when they host Bottesford Town.

Campion AFC team: Wilcynski; Wells; Allsopp; Swift; Bradley; Graham; Gregson; A. Day; M. Day; O’Brien; Kirby.
Subs: Mason; Boshell; Varley; Walters; Booth.

Thackley AFC team: Roxburgh; Rhodes; Bodle (Gibbon 82mins); Parsons ; Hudson ; Sugden (Jones 67mins); Donovan; Mitchell; Brown (Bradshaw 75mins); Grech-Brooksbank (Tektas 75mins); Barnes (Ahmed 67mins).
Unused subs: None

Campion AFC scorer: A. Day (24 mins)
Thackley AFC scorers: Hudson (21 mins), Donovan (34 mins), Grech-Brooksbank (35 mins), Barnes (59 mins), Ahmed (88 mins)

Attendance: 133
Photo credit: @Addybak (Adam Baker) on Twitter/X