La Chiesa find themselves in their highest ever league position this morning following an eleven goal thriller at Avondale Sports Ground, Loughton on Sunday.

LC/DC knew they would leapfrog their opponents in the table with a victory, and their cause was helped by having a full compliment of fourteen players to choose from for only the second time in their history. This almost caused a rare selection headache for Manager Samuel Knowles, only for a couple of the lads, who cannot resist a lock-in in their local boozer, to volunteer themselves as substitutes. Just one change from the side that beat May & Baker last week then, Adam Jeffers replacing Matt Gillham up front.

The match against Bryant at Coopers aside, LC/DC are notoriously bad starters, every week they seem to endure a barrage of early pressure before composing theirselves, and this week was no different. But, similar to seven days ago at M&B, they rode the early punches, and bounced off the ropes to take the lead, and it was a  a goal of pure quality. The ball was bounced around the midfield by Iain Gay and Colin Williams before finding its way to skipper Darren Hodsoll on the right. He beat his man before delivering a cross into 'the corridor of uncertainty' between the Ashton goalkeeper and his defenders, and there was Adam Jeffers sliding in at the back post. A typical 'muggers snatch' from Jeffers for his fourth goal of the season.

The lead had come against the run of play, however, and five minutes later, moments after a Jeffers chip had been saved, the scores were level. A long clearance from the keeper was flicked on into the path of Mathew Orchard-Lisle, who fired past Danny Hardwick into the bottom corner. Ashton Park dominated the rest of the first half , their midfielders moving the ball quickly, and Knowles and Williams, struggling with a knee injury, were finding it difficult to keep tabs on them. They took the lead around the half hour mark, when a great one touch move was finished by Iain Johnson.

This was the cue for Williams to switch to the left of midfield, Gay taking over in the centre, and it was from the left  the equaliser was created, Chiesa's No 15 clipped an inch perfect ball for Jon Gray to chase, and he lobbed the advancing keeper to tie things up at 2-2. Hardwick then made a great save to keep things that way, tipping a shot round for a corner, but Chiesa couldn't hold on until half time, and it was from one of a succession of late corners that Phillip Oliver headed Ashton into the lead, his goal being practically the last touch of the first half.

The half time report for the Hornchurch Rossineri read 'must try harder'. Their passing had not been up to it's usual standard, too many balls had been finding green shirts rather than the red and black that we have come to love, and it was agreed that it was the team that wanted it more that would come out on top. Goalscorer Jeffers was still suffering from the flu that kept him out of last weeks match, and was replaced for the second half by Matt Gillham.

Chiesa came out a completely diferent side at the start of the second period, and spent the next twenty minutes camped in Ashtons half. It was as though the boys had enjoyed a session with Eileen Drewery at the interval, they seemed more 'focused', finding an extra twenty per cent that hadn't been there in the first forty five. It was during this period of Chiesa power play that they equalised and took the lead. Williams was again the creator, pinging a dangerous ball from left to right, after excellent hold up play from Matt Gillham, to find Iain Gay making a late burst into the penalty area to fire home his first goal since joining the club in January. Soon after, LC/DC took the lead for the second time, a penalty box scramble turned into chaos for Ashton Park and in the confusion, the tenacious Gray made a tackle that resulted in the ball ending up in the back of the net.The impact these two signings have made on the team cannot be understated, the upturn in Chiesa's fortunes since their arrival is no coincidence.

Chiesa were dictating the pace of the game now, the midfield spraying the ball around as they pleased with skipper Hodsoll in particularly good form, but they took their foot off the gas momentarily midway through the half and allowed Ashton back into the game. More penalty box madness, this time in the LC/DC area, led to Orchard-Lisle hitting a shot on the turn that sneaked past Hardwick, and in off the post. Chiesa seemed to be panicking, and it looked as though Ashton had taken the lead soon after when a header bounced back off the crossbar and the rebound was fired past Hardwick, but struck the post. The Rossineri breathed a huge sigh of relief, and then, all of a sudden were back in front. Gray sent clear down the right, showed a good turn of pace and crossed for Gillham who showed great composure to deftly pass the ball into the back of the net and give the visitors the lead once again. It was a weight off the shoulders of Gillham, who though dubbed an 'Amusement Arcade' by the likes of Ron Atkinson in the past, showed in the last couple of matches that he can be an excellent team player as well.

Benny G and Mark Ede came on to replace Mark Harris and Darren Hodsoll, and, soon after, La Chiesa became the first side in the match to grab a two goal cushion. Again it was Williams with the assist, chipping a ball over the Ashton back line for Sam Knowles, who gave a trademark roll of the studs with his right boot, before stroking the ball in with his left.

That sixth goal was a record for Chiesa, their previous best being the five at Bryant at the start of the New Year, but there was still time for more, and when Gray was upended in the box, referee Johnny Vaughan, taking a morning off writing for 'lads mags' and hosting off the wall chat shows, had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Usually, this would a mean a hundred yard jog for Danny 'The Monk' Hardwick, but Chiesa's No 1 showed his charitable side in allowing Gray to take the kick and grab his hat trick, which he did in no uncertain terms, his three goals today making him the clubs top scorer with five, all scored in the last week!

Ten minutes left and cue showboating from La Chiesa, dummies were bought and sold, rather than spat out as used to be the case,  and one scintillating move ended up with a Hugo Sanchez style volley from Matt Gillham that would have been the greatest goal ever scored on a Sunday morning had it not whistled just past the top corner.

An amazing 7-4 scoreline then, and although coach Knowles was complaining afterwards he would have been happier with a 1-0, coming from the George Graham school of management as he does, it was great entertainment for the fans, and a match played in a fantastic spirit, with barely a bad word between either team or referee. La Chiesa move into sixth place then, two points clear of Ashton with two games in hand, and with visits to two teams below them in the table to come, maybe fifth place isn't as ridiculous as once it seemed

LCDC; (4-4-2) D Hardwick; Harris (B Gillham), Riley, W Hardwick, Soteriou; Hodsoll (Ede), Williams, Knowles, Gay; Gray, Jeffers (M Gillham)