Newly-promoted Bingham Town handed another harsh footballing lesson to the hapless Eagles as the NG13 side took their tally to eleven goals scored in completing a decidedly one sided league double over the Arna.

After a blank week end the yellows were undoubtedly weakened by the combined absence of Jake Ogden, Martin Bassey, Matt Fowler and Akeem Campbell but were able to welcome back Adam Stephenson to the fold with the winger in search of playing time after his (7 + 6 app 2 goal) stint with Step 6 neighbours Gedling MW.

The skies above looked capable of anything leading up to the game but in the end the rain kept away and conditions were pretty much ideal for football above Bingham’s rather compact but extremely well maintained playing surface. Indeed we were treated to a rare sight when a rightly proud home groundsman appeared with fork in hand during half time determined to seek out any minor repairs. Truth be told by that point we were indeed desperate for anything to take our minds off the Eagles’ performance!

Forty five minutes earlier an even opening period had seen the Eagles start the game looking relatively comfortable. At the risk of taking the clutching of straws to a ridiculously high level there is a slight case for claiming that the lobsided result of the match to a small extent hinged on a couple of minutes of end to end action just after the ten minute mark.

A foul on Lenny Jenkins a few yards into Bingham’s half gave Owen Taylor the opportunity to float a long free kick into the home penalty box. The ball appeared to take an Arna bounce and lifted up in such a way as to give both Tyler Beaman and Gerrard Hallam a chance to head towards goal but sadly neither forward could quite connect in turn.

Almost immediately the ball was down the other end and seemingly safely in Joe Boyd’s hands but then a needless close interaction with George Harrold allowed Bingham’s speedy Jacob Boyes to intercept and slot the ball into an empty net for his first goal of the afternoon. An absolute gift which proceeded to set the tone for the remainder of the match.

The Eagles attempted to claw their way back from the mishap for the next five minutes or so but to be honest their endless over intricate passing movements were hardly getting them anywhere and the well drilled Bingham back line were able to stand firm with some ease.

In stark contrast the home side padded their lead with 18 mins gone with the goal of the game which probably saw the ball move from one end of the pitch to the other in under ten seconds with the Arnold defence pretty much as involved in the play as the Arna spectators standing along the side line. A pin point long ball from the right of Bingham’s defence was launched across the pitch and controlled beautifully by their left winger who beat his man before delivering an equally accurate long ball back across to the back post for Bingham’s number eight to thump it home giving the stranded Boyd no chance.

Folks can get on their high horse and come up with as many derisory terms for this sort of attack as they like but when perfectly executed like this there is really only one word for it when all is said and done …..effective.

Arnold were seriously wobbling now and their game was threatening to unravel before our eyes. But they managed to steady the ship somewhat and around the half hour mark started to show some signs of life. A ball over the top saw Benji Agu beat the offside trap for once and having carried the ball into the box he appeared to lose his balance before pulling the trigger and half hearted appeals for a penalty were doomed to failure.

Minutes later a short Charlie Breslin throw in from deep on the right set up Gerrard Hallam with the chance to create space for himself in the penalty area before launching a fierce drive which flew across the Bingham goal taking it only a foot wide of the left hand post.

Then after a scrappy period of play Arnold had the ball in the net with around five minutes to go to the interval. Another through ball from central midfield set Benji on his way towards goal and a calmly slotted effort underneath the advancing keeper into the bottom right hand corner would have given the Eagles a much needed lifeline if only he hadn’t been half a yard offside on this occasion.

Once again a moment of some positivity for the Arna was followed almost instantly by a completely self inflicted disaster at the other end of the pitch. Adam Stephenson in acres of space wide out on the right in the Eagles’ half inexplicably opted to direct the ball back towards Arnold’s penalty box. It wasn’t so much a back pass as an assist to an alert Bingham forward who leapt at the opportunity and tapped the ball home past a flabbergasted Joe Boyd to make it 3-0 to the delighted home contingent.

Just before the half time whistle the combination of a Breslin throw towards Gerrard Hallam almost got the yellows on the scoresheet when Gerrard’s powerful back header had to be alertly stopped at the base of his left hand post by the Bingham keeper.

Sadly for the long suffering Arna faithful the second half would see even fewer chinks of light to offset the gathering gloom. To get the stats out the way the Eagles utilised their bench in two clumps with top goal scorer Liam McCormack (less than 100% fit with a chest infection) and midfielder James Wade replacing Adam Stephenson and Tyler Beaman on 61 mins and later Tyler Smeed and Connor Magon replacing Charlie Breslin and Owen Taylor on 73 mins with reserve keeper Pat Kociolek remaining on the bench.

As for what happened on the pitch Bingham increased their lead to four just five minutes after the re-start. A straight forward dead ball from the right bi-line flew across the Arnold area to be forcefully headed home completely unchallenged by Jacob Boyes for his second. As a description of Arnold’s defending on this occasion I would offer you the choice between …criminal….pathetic…or non existent.

Although by now we didn’t have the heart to go on too much about it the Eagles’ were denied a clear penalty shout with 63 mins on the clock. The recently introduced Macca was adding a little bit of spark to Arnold’s play and slipped the ball inside to Benji who had his ankle clipped a foot or two inside the area. The consolation prize of a free kick on the edge of the box was floated over by Macca and the home keeper did well to deny the advancing Gerrard Hallam at the back post.

With a miserable game for the Arna meandering towards its conclusion Bingham’s Jacob Boyes completed his hat-trick and his side’s scoring with the fifth goal on 70 mins. Running swiftly onto another high ball over the Eagles’ defence he expertly slid the ball past Joe Boyd to send it nestling into the bottom right hand corner. Thankfully, although the home side understandably continued to press, there would be no further damage done.

Well, to sum up the afternoon would only involve me having to find a further set of less than favourable adjectives to describe this Arnold Town performance.

Let’s instead hope for better things next Saturday at the Valley.