Somerset FA Senior Cup
First round
Middlezoy Rovers 6, Bishops Lydeard Reserves 0

MIDDLEZOY Rovers took a break from Premier Division action on Saturday, as they faced Division 3 side Bishops Lydeard Reserves in the county cup.

Having been knocked out in this round last season against lower league opposition, Zoy knew not to take anything for granted, and they duly ran out 6-0 winners.

Lydeard were aiming to cause an upset and made a very lively start, not giving any Zoy players time on the ball.

The hosts knew they would not be able to continue at that pace for the whole game, though, as they saw out the opening stages.

Zoy now began to see more of the ball, and their first chance came on 20 minutes as a beautiful through ball by the impressive Johnny Higgins set Jamie Temlett through, but his effort was brilliantly tipped around the post by the Lydeard goalkeeper.

This was only a warning for Lydeard, though, as five minutes later Higgins unleashed an effort from 25 yards that flew past the keeper to give him his first goal in two years.

From here on in it was all Zoy, as their quality on the ball began to show.

They knocked the ball around well and were soon 2-0 up when Alex Male found Dan Luce in the box, Luce touched the ball past the defender and found the top corner with his weaker left foot.

Luce soon had his second of the game on the half-hour mark, as he scored direct from a corner to give his side some breathing space before half-time.

Zoy knew Lydeard were never going to give up and to their credit they worked right to the end.

By this point Zoy were firmly in control, however, as it took just five minutes of the second half for them to get their fourth.

Higgins played in Joe Wilkinson, who held the ball up well and set up Charlie Lintell to fire under the keeper.

Wilkinson was again involved in Zoy’s fifth goal, playing a one-two with Luce on the edge of the box to send Luce through to slide the ball home and complete his hat-trick.

The hosts began to take their foot off the gas a bit now, as Lydeard had periods of possession, but the job was already done and in the last minute Zoy made it 6-0 as Liam Winter put it on a plate for Temlett to finish.

Victory takes Middlezoy into the second round, and extends their unbeaten run to 29 games in all competitions.

Man of the match: Johnny Higgins