After recent losses to Pembroke and Corpus/Linacre, St. John's ensured that they would stay in the promotion race on Friday, beating The Queen's College 4-1. On a windy day, John's exploited the conditions to score four goals in one nineteen minute first half spell, before holding on against an improved home team.
The conditions precluded the flowing football both sides would have rather played. The powerful wind, blowing toward the Queen's goal, prevented keeper Martin Bourne from exerting any control over his area. The flight of balls hit into the box could not be predicted, and it was from such an incident that John's took the lead with the game's first real chance. Jamie Bell's corner from the right was caught by the wind, and delivered past the Queen's’ defence to Mike Newland at the far post, who headed in. After a four month lay off with a knee injury, John's captain Newland has scored in both his games since his return, having never scored before. Five minutes later, however, Newland missed a header from the same source.
Queen's' attacks were spearheaded by Will Riley, who succeeded in getting into good positions but not in beating Alex Berend. Minutes after Riley shot wide, John's broke to double their lead. Dave Parsons took possession down the right hand side, getting to the by-line and pulling the ball back to the near post. Tom Froggett's late run was not picked up and he slid in to score.
A similar counter-attack five minutes later saw Joel Gregory release Matt Evans-Young in the left channel, who slotted home his fourteenth of the season. The fourth goal of John's nineteen minute scoring spell followed soon after. Newland's long ball out of defence found Evans-Young, who held the ball up and played to Gregory to slam home from only a few yards out. As with the other goals, Bourne failed to dominate his area and he was replaced by Paul Billingham at the interval. Just as importantly, they brought on Blues midfielder James Kelly, along with the athletic Alfie Enoch upfront and the sprightly Alex Edmiston on the left wing. Kelly impressed in attacking midfield, spotting and making passes in a way that Queen's failed to before his introduction.
On the hour mark, Kelly pulled one back for Queen's, picking the ball up in John's half and advancing to twenty yards from goal before curling the ball into the top corner. The final thirty minutes had a strange atmosphere: St John's played like a team with less than a three goal cushion, and only Andy Bottomley's aerial threat looked to pull Queen's back into it. Twice he went close with headers as Queen's gained the advantage John's used so well in the first half. The game slowed down as John's looked increasingly secure, and the silence on the pitch was in stark contrast to the shouts of those watching Torpids just yards behind the pitch. An uneventful conclusion saw St. John's take all three points to climb to second in the league.
