Dominant performance throughout.
The Crows had control of this game from start to finish as they dominated possession of the ball and constantly pushed the home side back towards their own penalty area. Blair may point out that up until the 52nd minute, when they equalised, it was only 1-0 and that they had one effort cleared off the line and hit the crossbar.
The statistics though show something different, the Crows had 18 attempts at goal, 10 on target, the home side had 8 attempts with only 3 on target. The corner count was 9-1 in the Crows favour, although Blair did win the yellow card count 4-3 and perhaps one of their players was lucky not to see a red card for a rather late challenge on the goaline.
I know Blair felt the first half was "quite tight" to quote their words but my view of the match was slightly different however, everyone has to remember that all of us are entitled to their views and whilst I always try to be abjective and fair, my reports are my personal view of the match just as theirs is I'm sure.
Those of you who know the Sports Meadow will know the pitch slopes diagonally from the far side to the near main stand side and from behind the clubhouse goal end to the far goal, thus making passing difficult for both sides, especially if there's also a fair breeze coming from the clubhouse end as well.
Perhaps these are reasons as to why the game, whilst satisfying from an end result point of view for the Crows, the match itself was not a classic and at times the play was rather scrappy.
The Crows finally made their pressure tell in the 24th minute, a Muggeridge corner found Turner at the back post, his header across goal was headed away by a defender where it found Walder some 20 yards out, his rasping shot beat Sitton down to his left as the ball nestled nicely in the back of the net.
The Crows had further chances to increase their lead but didn't take them and it was only in the last five minutes of the half that the Blair had a chance to put pressure on the Crows defence, this led to Webb hitting the bar with a right foot curling shot from the edge of the area, the ball rebounding to safety and was eventually cleared to safety.
Blair had their best spell of the game from the start of the second half until around the 60th minute and during this period they managed to equalise, McDonald heading in at the far post after 52 minutes when he was left unmarked and the Crows defence left the right wing cross to go right across their area with no-one taking control of the situation. Therefore, 1-1 and all to play for it seemed.
The Crows regained the lead in the 61st minute, Turner breaking down a Blair attack near his own area, he then burst forward on a surging run into the Blair half before passing the ball wide left to Pearson, he then took the ball to the goal line before crossing to the back post where Turner was waiting to head the ball into an empty net, 2-1 to Crows and a great move finished by the instigator.
From thereon in, the Crows were in charge, Attwood and Turner both had goal-bound efforts blocked, Muggeridge fired just over from a shot on the stretch and substitute Pring had a shot saved by Sitton.
The Crows made it 3-1 in the 82nd minute, Muggeridge putting over a pin-point cross to the back post where Crabb superbly volleyed the ball home from a narrow angle in to the top corner of Sitton's net.
In the 83rd minute the Crows managed to hit the post and bar within five seconds, Trealeaven's effort rebounded off the post, Attwood's follow up effort hit the underside of the bar before the ball was eventually cleared to safety.
Just before the final whistle, Attwood made it 4-1 in the 89th minute when he finished off a very good move by the Crows after an assist from substitute Treleaven, a nice way to finish the game off.
Jack Turner was awarded the Player of the Match after the game, fully deserved for his superb performance throughout the game, both in defence and attack. The Crows will now wait to see who they'll play in the First Qualifying Round, who would you like the Crows to play?