Mytchett Athletic Eagles started attacking the Knights goal straight from the whistle, placing the Knights defence of Blackbourn, Courtnage and Komboni under pressure but this strong defensive team soon quashed the Eagles advance. Komboni cleared the ball forward for Borachan to collect, and after skipping passed an Eagles mid-fielder, released the ball to Hooper; Hooper headed towards the Eagles goal but his effort was saved by the Eagles keeper before being cleared by the their defence for a corner. As the ball entered the Eagles penalty area Courtnage was the first to react, as the Eagles keeper was unable to hold onto the ball, without hesitation he pounced on the ball and slotted home the Knights opening goal. From the re-start Greenaway and Doel put the Eagles under pressure and forced the Eagles defence into an error, allowing Hooper the opportunity to fire in a shot from long range; however, this was well saved by the Eagles keeper at the expense of a corner. The ball arrived in the Eagles area from the corner, and confusion set-in, Greenaway seized the chance and fired home the Knights 2nd goal of the match. The Eagles started to force the play in the Knights area and as an attacker collected the ball Komboni appeared to foul him and the referee awarded the Eagles a penalty. Tadd, the Knights keeper was ready and waiting for the penalty, the whistle blew and the Eagles attacker fired the ball goal-ward, Tadd stood his ground and saved the shot but couldn’t hold onto it, Choularton rushed in to clear the ball away. Later in the half the Knights were awarded a throw-in which Komboni took, sending in a long throw for Hooper to chase. Hooper reached the ball but his shot was just wide of the mark. Also, a drop-kick from Tadd, allowed Borachan and Powell to pass the ball up-field opening up another opportunity for Holloway to score but his effort was deflected wide of the post. From another well planned attack by the Knights, Choularton moved the ball onto Powell, Powell skipped passed a defender before releasing a powerful shot at goal; this was saved by the Eagles keeper but the ball rebounded in front of Doel, and without hesitation Doel slotted home another goal for the Knights. With the half coming to a close the Knights kept forcing the play in the Eagles area, and after being awarded a throw-in mounted yet another all out attack. The ball was played forward by Blackbourn which was collected by Choularton, he in turn passed the ball to Holloway; Holloway put his head down and headed for goal, looking up only to take aim before firing home another goal for the Knights, making the score line 4-0 to the Knights at half-time.
Not sure what the Eagles manager said to his team during half-time, but as the 2nd half got underway, the Eagles came out fighting, forcing the Knights back into their penalty area, forcing Tadd to save. The Eagles then seem to be chasing the ball more, putting pressure onto every Knights player; from one such play the Eagles managed to steal the ball and released 2 strikers bearing down towards the Knights goal. With the Knights defence caught napping the Eagles strikers only had Tadd, the Knights keeper to beat; as Tadd came out a quick pass left Tadd exposed and the Eagles slotted home their opening goal. The Eagles then seemed to be attacking more and more, but the Knights defence and mid-field of Choularton, Greenaway, Hooper and Borachan kept the Eagles away from the penalty area. This meant that the Eagles were forced to shot from distance but Tadd was alert to this and managed to save their shoots. Greenaway collected the ball mid-field and quickly raced forward before releasing the ball to Powell; Powell saw Holloway in the open and nicely slotted the ball through to him. Holloway wasted no time and headed towards the goal, scoring again, making the score 5-1 to the Knights.
Attacking again, the Knights forced the play into the Eagles penalty area; Powell collected the ball from Holloway, and turning to face goal Powell fired in a powerful shot; the Eagles keeper dived but couldn’t get enough on the ball to stop it going into the net; this made the score 6-1 to the Knights. Another Knights attack saw Borachan, Powell and Holloway combine, cutting through the Eagles defence until Holloway was free to slot home the Knights 7th and his 3rd of the match. The score line might look like the Knights had a easy match, but this was far from the truth; the Eagles played with heart throughout the match, never giving up and from a Knights goal-kick the Eagles intercepted the ball and bore down on the Knights goal; a powerful shot resulted in a good save from Tadd, but he couldn’t hold onto the ball; a lone striker pounced and fired home a goal for the Eagles just as the whistle blew for full-time. The manager of the Knights then had to make a decision on the Man of the Match and this week he chose Tadd, the Knights keeper because of the fact that he saved a penalty early on in the match.
