OKEFORD UNITED 0 CHICKERELL UNITED 5

CHICKENS’ chief Steve Cow-ard was satisfied with his side’s professional display, as they comfortably turned over last season’s bottom club Okeford United in their Dorset Senior League opener.

Josh Why opened the scoring to put the visitors a goal to the good at the break, and hosts Okeford were reduced to 10 men just before the interval when they had a man sent off for deliberate handball.

Adding another shortly after the half-time, Chickerell ran riot in the second period, as Joe Charles added a brace and Steve Churchill and Warren White both got off the mark for the campaign.

Coward told Echosport: “They didn’t really give us much of a game to be honest, it was one of those where I don’t know if we played really well or they weren’t that good.

“Their keeper had made a few decent saves to keep his side in the game early and we had a few opportunities where we should have scored.

“When we scored in the first couple of minutes in the second half, that sealed it for us really.

“They didn’t really come out of their own half and I would have thought at 2-0 down they would have tried to come at us to try and get something from the game, but they didn’t seem to.

“Sometimes you get complacent when you are 5-0 up and you lose your shape, but we pressed them continuously for 90 minutes and I don’t think our goalkeeper had a save to make.

“We had a good squad for the first game and it was very pleasing to get the first one out of the way with a win.”

Chickens: Boore, Burton, Welch, Miles, Charles, Wells, Churchill (Jarvis 70), Etherington, Taylor (Tarnawski 87), Why, White.