Molesey 6-2 Walton & Hersham

Molesey ran riot against neighbours Walton & Hersham with a resounding 6-2 victory to move back into the top five of the Ryman League Division One South.

Staforde Palmer’s brace put the Moles in control at half-time, and two terrific Ollie Robinson goals early in the second half put the game beyond doubt.

The division’s top scorer James McShane – who had a brief spell with the Swans three years ago – made it 16 goals in 17 games in all competitions with a 15 yard header and then capitalised on a defensive error to make it six.

Late goals from Kadeem Ajeon and Myles Powponne was scant consolation for the well beaten visitors.
The rivalry between the clubs that was so fierce two decades ago has softened somewhat over recent years, partly because of dwindling supporter numbers on both sides and also because the Swans have spent a large part of this century a division above the Moles.

Indeed this was the first competitive fixtures between the sides for nearly eight years, and the diminished rivalry was evident during a fairly low key opening twenty minutes that gave no hint of the massacre to follow.

Ross Chalke forced a good save from Luke Badiali, and Sam Robinson twice came close with headers from Craig Lewington corners.
Walton counter attacked with pace and numbers on several occasions, and nearly took the lead with a piece of quick thinking from Powponne, who spotted Liam Allen off his line but shot into the side netting from a tight angle.

Palmer was making his first start for a month having just returned from his wedding in America, and married life shows no sign of blunting his goalscoring instinct as his quickfire brace towards the end of the half made it 47 goals in 47 starts for the club.
The ref played a fine advantage when Luke Elliott was wiped out by James Richmond, as McShane progressed and picked out Palmer, who made himself a yard of space before firing past Badiali from the edge of the box.

He made the second goal out of nothing, with the ball bobbling around in the box from a Robinson throw he picked it up and found the bottom corner before Badiali had time to react.

There was a hint of controversy about Robinson’s goal within a minute of the re-start, as Lewington’s quickly taken free kick appeared to have been taken too quickly for the ref’s liking, who brought the whistle to his lips but had second thoughts about blowing.

Robinson turned smartly inside a defender before finding the corner from twenty yards. Ajeon picked up a booking for his protests.
Five minutes later it was four, as Robinson stole a march on his marker to put a tremendous diving header past Badiali from Lewington’s corner.

McShane got in behind the Walton defence on the byline and pulled the ball back but neither Palmer or James Cottee could capitalise.
The goals kept flowing, and a fine team move involving Elliott and Lewington resulted in Palmer returning the favour of his first goal and picking out McShane. He appeared to wrong-foot Badiali with a bullet header from just inside the box to make it five.

There was still twenty minutes to go when Richmond’s misdirected header played in McShane, and with defenders bearing down on him he slotted beyond Badiali to become the third Mole on a hat-trick.

Robinson ventured forward at every opportunity searching for his third as the Moles continued to press, and a smothering save from Badiali denied substitute Reis Stanislaus a seventh.

Two preventable consolation goals failed to take the gloss of the win, as Ajeon fired home a cheaply conceded free-kick from the edge of the box, before Powponne exposed a gap in the Moles’ defence to grab a second in stoppage time.

Next up for the Moles is a quickfire chance for revenge against Carshalton following the unlucky 3-2 defeat in their last league outing, before a first ever trip to Dorking Wanderers next Saturday.