The first team were due to travel down to Shipston Excelsior in a league fixture while the reserves were also on the road to Inkberrow however, both fixtures have fallen foul of the recent cold snap.

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Kenilworth continued their unbeaten start to 2012 with an emphatic home win against lowly Studley Swan. Rob Strain and Simon Myles scored hat-tricks with Alex Shaw adding his name to the scoresheet with a bullet header before Adam Edwards came off the bench to notch a brace late on.

The game was effectively over inside 25 minutes as Strain scored twice, the opener a curling effort from 20 yards out and the second a superb header from a Vlad Polak cross, before Myles beat the Swan offside trap and smashed the ball past the static visiting keeper.

Strain completed a first half hat-trick when he was afforded acres of space at the far post and finished cooly. Myles scored the fifth when he reacted quickest to a loose ball in the penalty area and hammered the ball into the net.

The second half saw Kenilworth kicking into the wind but they continued to dominate and went 6:0 up when Alex Shaw rose highest from a Jay Holtom corner to power a header into the Studley net.

Scott Donegan and Adam Edwards were introduced into the game at 6:0 and made an immediate impact with Edwards combining well with Myles, who completed his hat-trick with a sharp turn and finish in the Studley penalty area.

Edwards then took centre stage with two goals of his own. The first as he cut in from the right wing, beat two players, and side footed the eight goal into the net. His second goal was a sublime finish as he found himself through on goal down the left and dinked the ball over the onrushing keeper to make it 9:0.

Kenilworth had further chances to make it double figures but, despite hitting the woodwork three times, the tenth goal would not come. All in all though it was a good day which saw Kev Kingham’s side close the gap on the top two and improve their goal difference significantly.

Next up at Gypsy Lane is the visit of second placed Alveston in the league. The game, which will take place next Saturday, will kick-off at 2pm. Admission for the fixture is free!

Speaking ahead of the game Kenilworth manager Kev Kingham said he was looking for a big performance from his side as they look to make amends for their league defeat at Studley earlier in the campaign;

“We let ourselves down a bit with the performance at Studley. I don’t think we got our preparations right that day and we paid the price for that. What I’ve learnt since taking over is that home advantage counts for an awful lot in this league and Studley certainly made the most of it on that day. We learnt a lot of important lessons from that game though and the recent away wins against Stoneleigh and Cubbington highlight the improvements we have made over the last couple of months. We’ve still got a lot of home games remaining this season so what we want to do now is make Gypsy Lane a formidable venue where visiting sides come and expect to be beaten.”

Kingham has been posed a number of selection problems ahead of the Studley Swan game, but he admits they are problems he is happy to have;

“When I looked across the training ground on Thursday it became apparent how much competition we have for places in the squad at the moment. We’ve reached a point where we’ve got good cover in most positions now and the lads with shirts realise that if their standards drop there is someone on the sidelines waiting to take their place in the team. It’s a great position for me to be in as we’ve got options in terms of personnel and also the way we set ourselves up for games. We aren’t constrained to one style of football and it means we’ve got options on the bench if we need to change things around during a game.”

Saturday’s game kicks off at 2pm with admission free for all spectators. The bar will be open serving hot drinks and light refreshments before and after the game and during the half-time interval.