AFC 2015 lifted the Sussex Sunday Challenge Cup - sponsored by Gardner & Scardifield on Sunday after a comprehensive 5-0 victory over Queens Park.

The impressive Max Jeffery played a part in all of the goals as AFC ran riot at Culver Road.

It took just fifteen seconds for AFC to assert their dominance as Queens Park lost the ball at the back almost immediately from the kick-off; Jeffery pounced on the loose ball and slotted it into the corner past the shocked Matt Evans.

Five minutes later AFC 2015 doubled their lead in swift counter-attacking fashion. From a Queens Park corner Sam Hinchcliffe was dispossessed, and Matt Maskell drove forward with the ball, he fed Jeffery who unselfishly played the ball across the box for the unmarked Rob Clark to fire past Evans.

AFC extended their lead further with nine minutes on the clock as Jack Dickens threaded the ball into Jeffery he kept his cool, just inside the area, to fire low and hard past the helpless Evans and into the net.

Queens Park looked shell-shocked and were nearly dealt a further blow as Evans appeared to pick up an injury following wave after wave of attacks. He recovered however, and had to be at his best moments later to keep out an acrobatic overhead kick form Terry Haworth.

Evans was called into action soon after to deny Jeffery his hat-trick (and AFC’s fourth) as he flung himself to his left to expertly tip the ball round the post after a fierce drive from the edge of the box.

At the other end Ed Cotcher set Alan Baughan free with a fine pass and he registered Queens Park first attempt on target with a powerful drive which was comfortably dealt with by Nathan Welch in the AFC goal.

The duel between Jeffery and Evans continued, with Evans thwarting the striker with a diving save to keep out a speculative effort from distance.

Clark then missed a gilt-edged chance just before the break to further AFC’s dominance but he dragged his shot just wide of the far post when well placed.

The second-half continued in much the same vein, with Evans being called upon time and time again, most notably a fantastic diving save, just past the hour mark, to keep out James Rhodes effort that look destined for the top corner.

However, Evans was powerless to stop Gary Rook scoring AFC’s fourth just five minutes later. 

The inspirational Jeffery, who moments earlier had been reintroduced from the bench, delivered a delicious ball to Rook at the back post, and he swept the ball in the bottom corner with Evans unsighted and unmoved.

With fifteen minutes to go Jeffery was presented with the perfect opportunity to round off his performance with a hat-trick. But, after beating the offside trap, got his finish all wrong as Evans plucked his attempted lob out of the air.

Queens Park did briefly threaten with ten minutes to go, as Oscar McGowan jinked his way into the box only to be denied just as he was about to pull the trigger by a perfectly timed last-dich tackle from Shane Matthews.

To add insult to injury AFC’s fifth goal came in the last minute of normal time and in cruel fashion. Jeffery crossed into the area only to see the ball cannon off the unfortunate Ed Penfold and trickle into the net giving Evans no chance.

After the match triumphant AFC manager Ian South said: “I wasn’t expecting us to score that early but I knew we would get at them quickly because everyone was hungry to play the players had to prove a point.”

(A selection of photographs can be found on Facebook - courtesy of Simon Roe Photography)
(Video highlights are available above and also on YouTube - courtesy of FilmMyMatch)

Stats: (Queens Park-AFC 2015)
Goals: 0-5; Shots: 5-18; Shots-on-target: 2-10; Corners: 6-7; Fouls: 2-12; Offside: 0-1; Yellow cards: 0-1; Red cards: 0-0.

Queens Park: M.Evans, Foster, Cotcher ©, Penfold, McGowan, Baughan, Hinchcliffe, Withers, Frimpon, Whiteman, Mitchell.
Subs: J.Evans, Timmins.

AFC 2015: Welch, South, Matthews, Hodgkins, Dickens ©, Jeffery, Gathern, Rhodes, Haworth, Maskell, Clark.
Subs: Rook, Skipper, Bean, Porton, Sattar.

Match report by Darren Ford