Reading YMCA bounced back to form with a 6-2 demolition of Westwood Utd, stretching their unbeaten run against their local rivals to 11 games. The Young Men have been in indifferent form since Xmas despite winning 4 of their 5 games but they looked a rejuvenated side from the first whistle and were worthy winners.

YM handed a debut to Craig McGivern but went into the game missing Stuart White, Johnny Adey, Naz Edmunds and Steve Daly whilst Westwood were also hit by the absence of Gavin Bendall, Ashley Baynham and Robert Tong although they were able to include Thatcham Town's Sam Tucker in their side.

Westwood were the better side in the opening exchanges with the wind in their favour and YM had to endure a couple of nervous moments before the midfield trio of Jason Wagner, Adam Cayzer and McGivern began to stamp their authority on the game.  And it was the Young Men who opened the scoring when the Westwood defence failed to deal with a flighted Wagner free-kick leaving defender Ben Green to fire the ball into the net with his left foot.

The teams were still evenly matched at this stage with YM looking quicker and sharper round the pitch whilst Westwood's Chris Bark, Ryan Adams and Sam Tucker always posed a threat in attack.  Slowly though YM were getting on top and, in spells, were producing some excellent interplay.  With 10 minutes of the half remaining top scorer, Martin Abery, made it 2-0 when skipper Danny Fitzpatrick headed a Matt Bicknell corner on to the post and, as a Westwood defender tried to clear, Abery closed him down to deflect the ball into the net.

YM were now rampant and made it 3-0 shortly before half-time when a flowing move ended with McGivern hitting a blistering volley towards goal but despite a superb stop from keeper Peter Barnes, Sam Jennings was on hand to fire into the net from a tight angle.

There looked to be no way back for the home side but after a half-time dressing down from boss Andy Vaughan, Westwood came out for the 2nd half on fire and could have easily scored 5 in the opening 15 minutes as they battered their opponents.  Keeper Scott Hodgetts was forced into a couple of excellent point blank stops whilst another shot wss cleared off the line but the pressure soon told with Adams pulling a goal back.  Westwood began to sense an unlikely comeback and continued to pin a shellshocked YM side back in their own half. And when YM switched off at a free-kick, Tucker squeezed the ball across goal for Bark to poke home.

The next goal was now likely to win the game and to YM's credit they refused to panic and when a deft Wagner through ball found Abery and a Westwood defender in a foot race there was only going to be one winner and, as Barnes advanced, Abery ignored the options inside of him to hit a curling shot into the corner of the net.  It was a great finish from the diminuitive striker and just about killed the game off as a contest with YM dominating the final 20 minutes.

With Westwood committing men forward, gaps were left at the back and Jennings should have done better when YM had a 3-on-1 situation.  But YM were not to be denied and made it 5-2 when a incisive cross from Bicknell found Cayzer lurking at the back post where his deflected shot eluded the unfortunate Barnes. YM then rounded off the scoring when Jennings beat the offside trap to bare down on goal where he drew in Barnes before squaring for Chris Lemm to score on his 150th appearance for the club.

YM boss Mark Lemm summarised "We were excellent today and got back to playing how we were before Xmas.  The foundation was our workrate off the ball which made it difficult for Westwood to get any flow in their game.  We then took our chances well and even when Westwood showed great character to fight back at the start of the 2nd half I still felt that we would score more goals.

Westwood away is probably the toughest fixture of the season, and although they weren't their normal selfs today, to come away having scored 6 goals will give us huge confidence for the remainder of the season."

READING YMCA: HODGETTS, ATKINSON, GREEN, FITZPATRICK, BICKNELL, LEE (replaced by KASONDE 65mins), MCGIVERN, CAYZER, WAGNER, ABERY (replaced by C LEMM 80mins), JENNINGS SUBSKASONDE, C LEMM, D TIPPER (not used).

LEMMY'S MOM - JAMES ATKINSON