Football
Superb Sproston sees Villa through

RYAN Sproston’s hat-trick helped Fairfield Villa set up a quarter-final clash with Bromsgrove Sporting as they overcame FC Glades Sporting in the Smedley Crooke Memorial Charity Cup on Saturday.

Paul Oakes’ men ran out 5-1 winners to secure the derby date which will take place at the Victoria Ground on February 18.

Villa entertain FC Glades Sporting again on Saturday in Midland Combination Division One but Oakes was quick to play down the impact the cup success would have on the contest.

“I’m not sure it will have too much effect to be honest,” he said.

“They are a good footballing side who we know are more than capable and just because we triumphed on Saturday it does not mean we have an automatic right to win again tomorrow, we will have to earn it as always.

“I was very pleased with the display though and I think the final score was a fair reflection on the contest.

“The amount of chances we created was similar to the first game against them this season when we got beat, but thankfully this time they went in.”

Sproston took just four minutes to open the scoring when he fired home a fierce drive and Fairfield went on to dominate the remainder of the first half but they were pegged back when Sporting’s first effort of the afternoon found the back of the net.

Adam Pillinger and Dean Beagan had efforts ruled out for off-side before Sproston headed home his second of the game just before the interval.

Duncan Tye was introduced for the second half and he made an immediate impact when working his way into the box before being chopped down. He dusted himself down to take the spot kick himself and made no mistake.

A trademark left foot finish from Sproston saw him complete his treble before Ryan Hopwood rounded things off with his first goal for the club.

“Ryan is on fire at the moment, he has a great eye for goal and his shots to goals ratio must be fantastic,” Oakes said.

“Rarely is he wasteful when presented with a chance and even if he doesn’t score he generally makes the keeper make a save.

“It was pleasing to get through and it gives us another clash against Sporting to look forward to in what is going to be a big couple of months.

“Saturday is very important to us as we really need the three points to help our disappointing league position. We then have a host of cup games to think about and relish.

“It has been a bit of a roller coaster season but I feel over the last few weeks we are finding a bit of consistency and heading in the right direction. Hopefully we can keep that going forward during the big games we have coming up.”

Villa hope Scott Gaffney will be available for Saturday and welcomed Duncan Tye back into the fold on Saturday but are still faced with a lengthy injury list.

Marc Rogers, Ben Timbrell, Craig Cosgrove, Adam Pillinger, Jamie Hatfield, James Turk, Martin Slevin and Martin Keight are all carrying knocks of varying lengths to leave Oakes short of options.