Alton Town 4, East Cowes Vics 2

TWO wins and 12 goals in four days has seen Alton Town rush up the Division One table of the Sydenhams Wessex League.

The Brewers followed a 4-2 win at home to East Cowes Vics with an 8-2 thrashing of Folland Sports on Tuesday night.

On a damp and chilly Saturday afternoon against East Cowes Vics, this was not really a game to warm hands, toes or anything else.

Alton were far superior throughout and should have won by a much greater margin given the chances they created, but they rather lost their way in the second half when both sides, the visitors in particular, were seemingly more occupied with moaning at the referee.

Vics did mount the first meaningful attack with Brandon Hayward sending Joe Butcher clear on the left, but the cross was just too high and Alton steadily gained the advantage and took the lead in the seventh minute when Matt Bunyan, who caused the visiting defence problems all afternoon, collected a short pass just inside the area and beat goalkeeper Will Hunt at his near post, the ball going in off the underside of the crossbar.

Callum Birch and Liam Knight, Alton’s two wide men, both tested Hunt before the second goal came a little more than five minutes after the first. A through ball was cleverly helped on by Burch and Bunyan coolly slotted the ball past the advancing goalkeeper to double Alton’s lead.

Butcher shot just wide after a long run but with the half yet to reach its halfway point Alton struck again with the best goal of the game, a three-man move down the right, which included a clever reverse pass from Bunyan, and Burch’s precision low cross was turned home by Scott Sanderson in the middle of the six-yard box.

Steve Black then sent an effort over the crossbar as Alton looked for a fourth goal, but it was the Vics who scored next, a shot from Butcher squirming under goalkeeper Chris Smith from 20 yards.

As the second half started Liam Knight beat the goalkeeper and the far post in the opening minute and Vics full back Keelan Walsh received the first yellow card of the afternoon for a challenge that didn’t really look anything out of the ordinary. Hunt, whose handling was on the suspect side all afternoon, made a superb reflex save from the free kick and then escaped further punishment when Alton failed to take advantage of a mishit clearance with an open goal in view.

The home side were still dominating possession, but without creating any chances, and they were punished as Vics pulled the score back to 3-2 15 minutes into the second half with their first real attack of the half. Liam Newbold made ground on the right and his cross was met first time by Jimmi Burton, the ball crashing in to the net off the underside of the crossbar.

Suddenly Vics were back in the game but they promptly shot themselves in the foot with Walsh receiving a second yellow card for some childish petulance off the ball directly in front of the assistant referee. Vics substitute Brad Young was next into the book for a two-footed challenge that fortunately missed both man and ball before Alton made the game safe with a fourth goal.

Three corners in quick succession resulted in a fourth being cleared only to the edge of the area and Ben Williams lobbed the ball over a crowd of players and just inside the far post.

* The Brewers followed up their win against East Cowes Vics by thrashing lowly Folland Sports 8-2 on Tuesday night, with a hat-trick from Max Smith.

* Tomorrow, Alton Town travel to Downton in Wessex League Division One (kick off 3pm).