The heavy rain forecasted for late Saturday morning decided to arrive a few hours early leading to an early pitch inspection. Having baled standing water out of the goal mouths the ref was happy that the pitch, although heavy, was playable.
Affinity's best spell of the entire game came within the first ten minutes of the game with some good pressing from midfield resulting in balls for Lee, playing his first game of the season, and Will to chase down and test the Cathedral defence. No clear cut chances resulted though and the game evened out from a possession stance from this point onwards.
However difficult the conditions were for the outfield players the consistent heavy rain played havoc with the keepers handling and Cathedral ensured that Steve R was tested at every opportunity, something that Affinity were not able to do with the opposition goalie.
Cathedral opened the scoring from a well taken free kick just outside the area with a strike just inside Steve's right hand upright. Steve R collided with the post and picked up a knock that later would reveal some glass embedded in his knee. Before Affinity could regroup Cathedral pounced to double their lead as a striker was first to a ball that fell free Affinity's penalty area.
Even though Affinity were struggling to get any controlled possession they fashioned a few half chances that just wouldn't fall for them. Cathedral on the other hand couldn't do much wrong and further doubled their lead to go into the break 4-0 up. Their third came from a second free kick that burst through an ageing Affinity net and their fourth a well worked passing move that made the most of the spaces appearing in the Affinity defence.
The half time team talk called for more energy and passion to match that shown by Cathedral in the first half. The rain continued to pour and the pitch became increasingly heavy making the passing game an impossibility. Affinity matched Cathedral in the possession stakes but were unable to make any of their chances count.
Cathedral with the advantage of a winning lead continued to look the most likely to score and added to Affinity's woes with a further brace that made the score look like a complete thrashing. Opposing managers agreed that the score line didn't fairly reflect the possession and effort put in over the 90 minutes but you have to create and then take the chances to win a game by such a convincing margin.
Ian takes the man of the match award with a battling midfield performance. He won than his fair share of headers from set pieces and constantly urged his team mates to play with their heads up. Overall a game to be quickly forgotten
