Pyrford produced an excellent performance against bottom of the table Knaphill, and ran out comfortable winners.
From the outset Pyrford were in control and quickly settled into a good short-passing game. Good pressure from Snipes early on forced a corner, which was whipped in by Matt. The keeper could only push it out to Lewis, who made no mistake from 8 yards. Pyrford were in control, even at this early stage, and it was no surprise when they doubled their lead soon after. A long throw from Thommo was brought down and out of his stride brilliantly by Arran, who turned neatly and curled the ball into the far corner.
Knaphill were struggling to get on the ball, as Pyrford were able to keep possession easily in all areas of the pitch. The third goal soon came, and it was a superb individual effort by Thommo. Andy Kidd played the ball out wide to Thommo, and he cut inside and skipped past two crude challenges, then past a third man, before hitting the ball into the bottom corner from 25 yards.
It was fast becoming a question of how many Pyrford would score, and although Knaphill had forced a couple of corners, they had hardly threatened Nathan's goal. At the other end, Snipes' persistence were causing Knaphill all sorts of problems, and it wasn't long before he got on the scoresheet, chasing down the home full back with Arran and dispossessing the goalkeeper to run into an empty net. He should've added another soon after in similar circumstances, but shot wide from a tight angle when he had more time than he realised.
There was time for Lewis to add another before half time, after an excellent through ball from Arran. He shifted the ball to his left foot having been put through after a great one-two, and cooly slotted into the far corner.
6-0 at half time, and the momentum was always going to be difficult to maintain. Knaphill adjusted their shape and closed down much quicker, and the game evened out a little. Pyrford should have been 7 up when Snipes' pass found Arran who slotted home, but he was adjudged to be offside by a linesman 30 yards away from the line of the last defender. Pyrford would've added considerably to the tally, but for some excellent saves from the home keeper, who made amends for being partly responsible for some of the earlier goals.
Knaphill started to create and were given an opportunity to get a consolation, when Duane needlessly bundled over their striker just inside the box. The resulting penalty was hit hard and low, but Nathan guessed right and restored the 6 goal advantage with a good save.
Snipes completed a deserved hattrick late in the second half, once again by chasing down the home defence, and he ran the ball home for the third time. Lewis almost completed a perfect hattirck soon after, but his header drifted over. Matt also had a number of good chances but fired over on each occasion.
At times the passing and control was a joy to watch, and Pyrford had killed the game off very early with some excellent finishing. A thoroughly different challenge awaits next week against Division 1 AFC Egham.
