Pride & passion, that’s the idea of a local derby, The fiercest derby atmospheres have been built over decades, where rivals have risen and fallen together, where both sides have enjoyed the upper hand at various times.
The match against Knaphill Athletic was just that, the last time we both played Knaphill Athletic came out on top and deservedly so as they wanted it more than us. This time with a few changes to our line-up, the whole team were up for it and understood the important of today’s match, not just 3 points (Invitation Cup format) but a chance to be in the semi-finals of the Cup Competition.
We have got good players in our club and they showed from the start what this game meant to them and set their stool out which was to dominate as much of the match as possible. Dominate we did and with our excellent passing and moving, we started to make headways into the match and put the pressure on Knaphill Athletic, which they could only respond with by trying to hit the long ball over the top and hope they latched onto it, but without success. The tackles were coming in thick and fast, with the Referee missing a few of them, but after 10 minutes we finally got a freekick in the Knaphill Athletic half and a great floating freekick was converted of the head of Danny Webb’s head and the first goal was in. We then continued with dominating the half and was not long before Captain Marvel (and proud new Dad of Henry & Eva) used his silky skills (he learned from watching dancing on ice) to score the second goal (not in the top right hand corner) which he normally does, but a great goal anyway. Knaphill Athletic did not have much to respond with and just seemed that they only had one tactic of the ball over the top, which we just soaked up and continued to play how we can play, when we put our minds to it. The third goal came from the man of the moment Nathan (Capt Marvel) Collins who again with fancy foot skills tip toed into the Knaphill Athletic penalty box, just to be taken out (only way he was going to be stopped) and so up stepped Ross Murray to covert the penalty to make it 3-0.
Knaphill Athletic’s half time team talk was inspiring for our players and the Referee who had to tell them to turn the volume down and it seemed to work a bit as Knaphill Athletic seemed to start playing better in the second half and a couple of times came close to getting on the score sheet, but we just continued to soak up the pressure and then a moment of lack of focus, which let Knaphill Athletic in and onto the score sheet, which made the last 10 minutes a bit nervous, but we did not give up and Ross Murray ran through and scored his second of the match to end it 4-1 to us. Take nothing away from Knaphill Athletic who battled till the end (and are the best Team in Knaphill Village) and we wish them all the best for the rest of the season.
