Caius were the victim of their own defensive mistakes, as they were often unable to clear their linesImran Marashli

St John’s I eased past a lacklustre Gonville & Caius I side, maintaining their lethal attacking form with a comfortable 4–1 away victory (having now scored eight goals in their last two games) to secure their first points of their CUAFL Premier League season on Saturday afternoon.

Arguably, it was the Caians who were coming into the game with more confidence, having put away Homerton I with relative ease in the CUAFL Cuppers tournament last weekend, while St John’s almost blew a four-goal lead in a nervy match against Selwyn. Yet it was the Johnians who prevailed and looked dangerous throughout, whereas Caius were left to rue some costly defensive errors and remain without a league victory.

Indeed, the away side made a lightning start to the game: in the very first minute, the pacy and threatening Michael Samuelson-Beulah got in behind the Caius defence and curled in a ball from the right flank which sailed over Victor Tray in the Caius goal and nestled into the back of the net.

John’s were, quite simply, dominant in the game’s opening exchanges. Caius struggled to gain possession and were a whisker away from falling two behind within five minutes. They broke through the Caius defensive line once again, but Giulio Filippi saw his drive cannon off the inside of the post, ricochet off a retreating Caius defender on the line but somehow manage to stay out.

The Caians eventually started to establish themselves and gained some possession, but they struggled to create from open play and failed to test the St John’s keeper throughout the first half. The away side, meanwhile, always looked menacing on the break, with Filippi and captain Gompertz providing powerful runs through midfield that left Caius’s defence exposed on several occasions. 

This incisiveness up front proved to be a key difference between the two sides and kept Victor Tray the busier of the two goalkeepers as he was forced to tip a shot from Newbitt onto the bar, while a one-on-one had to be scrambled off the line by the retreating Marcus Fletcher. 

However, for all of the St John’s ascendancy, a moment of controversy on the stroke of half time could have easily changed the momentum of the game. A loose ball near the byline was unsuccessfully chased down by the John’s goalkeeper and, as Melling sought to capitalise, he was scythed down, only for the linesman – a John’s substitute – to wave for a corner. A heated discussion ensued, and the decision was made not to award a penalty since the ball had gone out of play – a controversial call that Caius bitterly resented at the break.

Remarkably, the beginning of the second half was virtually a carbon-copy of the first. In the very first minute after the interval, a long punt up the field was not decisively dealt with by the Caius defence, who allowed it to bounce and bobble around the edge of the area. And this gave the harrying and hustling Ben Newbitt the chance to nip the ball away and fire past Tray. Seconds later, Caius’s woes were compounded, as Newbitt once again found himself in on goal, rounded the keeper and slotted home to make it 3–0. 

The home side were stunned, and John’s nearly made it four after some more good work by Samuelson-Beulah down the right, but his cut-back was narrowly deflected over the bar. Suddenly, however, Caius’s spirits perked up: a lofted ball over the top allowed Adam Miller to stretch his long legs and burst clear of the St John’s offside trap. Faced with the keeper, he proceeded to produce the best finish of the match, delightfully lofting the ball into the far corner of the net from near the edge of the area.

Momentarily, it looked as though a reoccurrence of last week’s second-half jitters had come to haunt St John’s as Caius pressed for the next goal. Yet they recomposed themselves and added the cherry on the cake with another soft goal from a Caius point of view. Caius were unable to clear a long throw from Ben McCleery, and the ensuing scramble saw Sam Smith fire home a fourth from close range. 

In truth, the away side ought to have made it more when Newbitt wreaked havoc on yet another counter-attack. Having run clear and rounded the keeper, though, he inexplicably fired his shot over the bar with the goal gaping for a hat-trick. And as the game drew to a close, Tray was called into action again, tipping a curling shot onto the post to prevent further damage for the home side before the final whistle.

Injured Caius skipper Ethan Sorrell was bitterly disappointed, lamenting the accumulating injuries for the Caians – not only to himself, but also another to Charlie Sparkes in the warm-up – and the defensive mistakes for which Caius paid dearly. 

In contrast, speaking to Varsity after the game, St John’s captain Ned Gompertz enthused: “It was a really good performance. We had lost a lot of players last week, and it’s taken us a couple of weeks to integrate the freshers into the team. But we had a win against Selwyn last week in Cuppers, and now a good win on the road here, and we’re definitely starting to play better football. I think we’re really a force to be reckoned with now against all teams.”

Gonville & Caius I: Tray, Fletcher, Voice, Harvey, Jacques, Tuohy, Smith, Parker, Melling (c), Miller, Bain

Substitutes: Purohit, Sparkes

St John’s I: Osborne, Smith, McCleery, Filippi, Selway, Samuelson-Beulah, Campbell, Shields, Salter, Gompertz (c), Newbitt

Substitutes: Redding