With great excitement reigning Beds County Cup champions travelled to Caddington to face a team sitting in mid-table of the Bedfordshire Youth Saturday League Division 1. So, as the match kicked off in cloudy but dry conditions, Linslade knew that this was going to be no walk in the park.

Fortunately, Galaxy had got the memo, started strongly and maintained that intensity throughout the match as some clinical finishing saw Spartak score goal after goal.

Within 3 minutes Spartak had a corner, which needed a punched clearance, but then just two minutes later Tycho did some fantastic work in defence, changing a tricky defensive situation into a promising attack. The ball reached Jack R who beautifully fed Theo. The goalkeeper came out well to clear; however, Jack R was on hand to slot home from 10 yards. A really strong start from Spartak.

It was not all one way traffic and Caddington showed they could be a danger when the ball came back in to the box, but their striker could only hit the ball straight at Thomas from 6 yards out.

On the 14th minute Theo showed his strength in the box and his shot was parried by the excellent home goalkeeper, only for Jack R to be in the right place again to score his second and double Galaxy's lead. It only took a further three minutes for Linslade to get their third. It was a long ball this time from deep and Ethan ran through beat the keeper to the ball and slot home from a tight angle.

Midway through the first half there was some brave goalkeeping as the ball was clipped in and Theo struck from 5 yards out, but the Caddington goalie blocked the shot. Later, as the first half had reached the 35th minute the Caddington goalie was unlucky as he made a great save from Matthew's effort but he couldn't quite stop the ball from going into the back of the net as Galaxy got their fourth.

Then, in the last minute of the first half, Jack J showed some great skill as he turned and struck a fierce shot which the goalie brilliantly parried onto the bar. Matthew struck the rebound equally fiercely but this was blocked. In the resultant corner Tycho headed from a few yards out but the goalie was well placed to stop the effort.

The first half ended with Galaxy four goals to the good. Overall Caddington showed glimpses of talent but they couldn't match Spartak's intensity and the defence mopped up any attacks leaving Thomas with very little to do. Niall, in particular, had an excellent first half. Jack J was dominating the midfield and the pace of Ethan, Jack J and Mali up front was a constant menace.

Although Caddington started the second half on the attack it was a great team goal from Galaxy that generated the next goal. After a good number of passes Mali passed across to Matthew who didn't hesitate in slotting the ball into the corner. This made the scoreline 5-0 to Spartak and was a real sucker blow to the home side who had started the second half on the offensive.

12 minutes into the second half Jack R again showed his pace but the defender did really well to prevent Jack from getting his shot away. Immediately afterwards Caddington attacked and they had their best chance of the match but blazed over.

Then, midway through the second half, two fantastic efforts from Blake took the game further away from Caddington. Firstly, Spartak had a series of corners and Blake's instinctive effort from 15 yards gave the keeper no chance. Then, more attacking play from Spartak eventually led to Blake who scored a delightful goal over the keeper from 20 yards.

Still Spartak kept attacking and in one promising moment Ethan ran through but his stretched effort went wide.

The final goal of the game came in the 39th minute and from another corner. The goalkeeper cleared the ball outside the box but Tycho was there to fire home a pile driver to give Linslade four second half goals to match the four in the first and the match finished 8-0 to the away side.

The scoreline was a little harsh on Caddington who tackled hard, passed well and kept moving forward when they could. They were a little unlucky in that rebounds went to Galaxy players, whose efforts were then spectacularly efficient. But from a Galaxy perspective this was a clinical performance with players in the right place at the right time and finishing with aplomb.

Overall, a great way to kick off Spartak's campaign to keep hold of the County Cup and roll on Round 3.