Ford delighted to see Puritans go through the gears

Ravi Shamsi bagged a brace as the Puritans thumped Barwell 6-1 in Saturday’s Evo-Stik League South clash. Five goals came in the second half at the Banbury Plant Hire Community Stadium but there was no sign of that to come after the first 45 minutes.

Shamsi bagged a second half brace after Greg Kaziboni’s first half opener had been cancelled out by Anthony Dwyer with Matt Taylor, Giorgio Rasulo and substitute Steve Diggin also getting on the score sheet.

Ford said: “It was a difficult first half for us, Barwell pressed us and got a goal back out of nothing. But something ignited us in the second half and it was very pleasing to see us play on the front foot, with a real intensity and keep the ball.

“We went through the gears and stayed in fourth gear for most of the second half. We’ve got lots of attacking players in the team and they couldn’t cope with Amer Awadh in the second half. But everyone contributed because you don’t get many games when you score six goals.

“The first half was scrappy, we did okay and took the lead, they equalised but Ricky Johnson should have scored straight after the restart. We had to defend a couple of free-kicks which we shouldn’t have given away but then they made a mistake and we scored.

“When Matt Taylor scored that killed them and we were relentless after that goal went in. That’s how quickly games can change but we kept pushing and more goals came.”