Southam 3 Nuneaton Griff 7: Seven and hell for sorry Saints

Tom Cross scored for a depleted Saints in their 7-3 defeat to Nuneaton Griff.

Griff’s Tom Randle and Mark Latham both had early shots saved by Tom Cross, but the home keeper had no chance in the fourth minute when a superb cross by Latham found the unmarked Danny Harris, who buried his bullet header into the net.

Saints gave away a penalty when Latham was fouled and Alex Naughton sent Cross the wrong way to record his 39th goal in 40 games.

A bit of complacency crept into the Griff play and, in the 11th minute, Ryan Aston made a mistake by sending a cross- field pass straight to Robbie Stephens some 25 yards from goal and the striker coolly guided his effort over keeper Dave Watson to reduce the arrears.

However, within 60 seconds, Griff restored their two-goal advantage, Mark G Williams threading a shot through the packed six-yard box and beyond the unsighted Cross.

Tom Bates sent in a rasping drive that only just cleared the bar before Watson came to Griff’s rescue with two diving saves, stopping Stephens after Ben Tennant had played him in and then keeping out a Steve Thomas effort with his legs.

Saints were forced into changes at the interval, with the injured Hicks being replaced by goalkeeping coach Hugh McCluskie, who took over the number one shirt with Cross moving to spearhead the attack and Kurt Parsons dropping back into defence.

Josh Turton headed wide when in a good position and Saints were made to pay as two more goals extended Griff’s lead.

Seventeen-year-old Randle floated a cross over the keeper and under the bar and two minutes later, Ruff fed Harris whose lob rebounded off the bar, with Bates reacting fastest to head home his first goal for the Nuneaton side.

Southam cut the deficit after Stephens charged down an intended clearance to put Nijjar through on the right and his low effort was tucked home by Cross from a yard.

McCluskie saved well from Ruff but had no chance seven minutes later as the same player burst into the box to drill home a fine shot.

A spell of Southam pressure was capped by a Turton run and shot which yielded a third.

However, Griff were not finished and Naughton released his skipper on goal, with Latham making no mistake with the rebound after McCluskie had saved the original shot.