THE Great Notley Rams opened their League Cup group stage account with an emphatic four-nil win over the Dunmow United Falcons at Laundry Lane on Sunday.
Goals from Jonathan Stoneman, Emma Root and a brace from James O'Reilly sealed the victory while Harvey Ricci and Matthew Norris both kept a clean sheet each half they spent between the sticks.
There was also a Rams debut for Henry Wright, a busy display from Thomas McInerney, and some solid defending from Olivia Hales, Ben Rodley and Jamie McNeilly.
The Rams took the lead nine minutes into the first half when Stoneman capitalised on some indecision in the Falcons box to poke the ball between the legs of the home custodian.
The lead was then extended by a set piece straight off the training ground when Norris squared his free kick on the edge of the box for Root to hammer home past the Falcons' wall.
In the second period, a pair of crisp finishes from O'Reilly ensured that there was no route back into the game for the home team, although they came close to picking up a goal but for an excellent on the line save from Norris.
Rams boss John Stoneman said: "After the success of our opening day home victory I was delighted to see us continue this form on our travels.
"We have again learned some important lessons about our positional play and it is always pleasing to keep a clean sheet, something we had discussed at half time when we were two goals to the good.
"We face the Falcons again next week, this time on league duty, so we know what we need to do in order to get off to a good start in the league standings."
