CAPTAIN Gareth Eggle’s call for mental sharpness and intensity of play produced a much-improved performance by Chard A yesterday as they beat Minehead B 7-0 in South East 2 of the Davis Wood league.

Even without striker Dan Stone, they won by a comfortable margin once a few early defensive jitters were settled with two goals in the first 15 minutes.

Both came from the stick of Harvey Dening playing in his preferred left wing role.

The first was a close range effort, the second a powerful strike from a tight angle.

With some neat, close passing and good movement off the ball, Chard eased further ahead courtesy of Jason Goddard.

Then Harry Felgate poached the fourth after a couple of efforts had been blocked.

Felgate’s outstanding wing play throughout earned him the man of the match award.

Chard’s back four, even without calling on Dave Lury, coped with increasing comfort with Minehead’s their rare attacks.

The midfield took a firmer grip on the game and Eggle added a fifth before half-time to match the five goal advantage Chard earned at Minehead earlier in the season.

It was Eggle who scored again within five minutes of the restart to stifle Minehead’s efforts to reassert themselves.

Receiving a pass with his back to goal on the opposition 25 metre line, he spun past his marker and charged into the D, firing past the keeper into the corner of the net.

In the first half it had been Minehead’s goalie whose athleticism had kept the score down.

In the second it was Chard’s profligacy in front of goal as they missed a hatful after some impressive approach play set up numerous chances.

But Trevor Goss was on hand in the 54th minute to calmly strike home Chard’s seventh from one of their half dozen penalty corners.

Chard’s dominance ensured no penalty corners were conceded and keeper Berge Balian had one of his quieter days between the posts.

Chard: Berge Balian, Danny Grabham, Paul Tratt, Chris Knight, Steve Mahoney, James Spurdle, Jason Goddard, Adam Veitch, Harvey Dening, Gareth Eggle (capt), Harry Felgate, Trevor Goss, Kyle Anderson, Dave Lury.

Umpires: Chris Long and Jim Sainsbury.