Stoke Ramblers followed up their first ever victory last weekend with a stunning dismantling of Ipswich.
The teams arrived at Halls Road fields in Biddulph to be greeted by a frozen pitch and after consultation between ref and players it was decided to give the game the go ahead.
This left the players with the responsibility to make sure the game was played without added risk of injury by watching their tackling and both teams did well to adhere to those thoughts with not one bad, or dangerous, tackle in the game.
The conditions were key and the Ramblers adjusted to them the better of the two sides, and the big scoreline allowed them to give good pitchtime to all 21 players that had turned up for the game.
The Ramblers gave a debut to striker Lee Jaquise and also welcomed back winger Chris Cope, and the latter wasted no time in getting to work, cutting in from the left before sending a low, bobbling shot past the keeper from 18 yards to open the scoring in the 9th minute.
Hosts Stoke kept piling forward and the lead was soon three goals as smart finishes by Jaquise and Cope put some breathing space between the sides.
The visitors hadn't been able to get themselves near to the Ramblers goal btu the first time they did the ball ended up in the net as a cross into the box was nodded past keeper Glennan and into the net to give Ipswich hope.
The hope was shortlived though as Ramblers reinstated their three goal advantage before half time when Jaquise got his second of the game just before the interval.
Ramblers knew they would have to start the second half well and kept the same side for the opening ten minutes before starting to bring their subs on, one every three or four minutes so as not to disrupt the team too much in one go and the Ramblers were able to keep the pressure on and extend their lead even further when Tawn added a 5th with a neat finish before Jaquise completed his hat trick when a long ball down the middle from the back was allowed to bounce by the visitors defence and the striker nipped in to nod past the onrushing keeper and complete his trio.
The 7th goal arrived with twenty minutes left and was the best of the day as Tawn teased the full back before cutting inside from the left wing and smashing an arrow like shot from the corner of the penalty area across the keeper and inside the top corner of the goal. It was the last act for Tawn as he made way for another substitute before the restart.
Captain Ben Steadman had made way and given the armband to defensive rock Simon Myatt and when he departed there was a proud moment for 15-year-old Joe Haynes as he was given the armband for the final ten minutes and the Ramblers immediately gave the new skipper something to celebrate as, even with every outfield player who started the game now being replaced, they added an eighth when Joe Barbieri followed in his initial shot to bundle the ball into the net and claim his opening Ramblers strike and the scoring was complete on an amazing day in the short history of Stoke Ramblers.