Army men deliver dominant Inter Services message to title rivals in Navy win
The Army have made a perfect start to their men's Inter Services football campaign with a 3-0 win over the Royal Navy in Aldershot.
A double from Scott McCarthy and a well-taken Sam Atkinson penalty blew the Navy away with a phenomenal first-half Army performance.
The second half started with Luke Cairney pulling off a spectacular save to keep out Navy midfielder Elliot Holmes's penalty and the Army cruised to victory from there.
It was the Army who started the better – Atkinson's goal-bound shot deflected off the line by Jack Wright in the first three minutes.
That Army momentum continued and they took the lead after 10 minutes.
A superb through ball from Lee McCombie allowed McCarthy to deliver a poked finish that left Navy goalkeeper Laurence McCormack no chance of keeping it out.
The away side tried to respond as Holmes let fly from just outside of the penalty area but Cairney did well to tip it over.
It looked even in the first half-hour but a three-minute blitz from the men in red decided the result.
Harry Beckley's good run was halted by Wright's clumsy tackle and Atkinson made no mistake from 12 yards to score a second Army goal.
At 2-0, the game was still within grasp for the Navy but when McCarthy added his second, it was a very big mountain to climb.
McCormack rushed out to try and stop the striker's run but his clearance just clattered off the Army forward who had the simple task of putting the ball into the empty net.
The Navy would have received a strong team talk from the head coach at half-time and it nearly paid off.
Within seconds of the restart, Harry Girdwood was fouled by Mo Sabo and the Navy had a penalty.
However, Holmes' strike from the spot was touched onto the post by Cairney and the great save confirmed the Army win.
The result sets up a title-deciding clash with the RAF next week which will be shown live on the Forces News YouTube channel.
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