Hope 8 - 0 FCSKEMA (390121778)

8155 punters turned up at Hope Cove Arena, and despite threatening clouds on the horizon, no rain came. Edouard Boutin was the appointed referee with assistance provided by Baldo Boi and Einar Lagermar. A 4-4-2 alignment was the formation of choice for Hope. The following players had been chosen: Carter - Chapman, Hackett, Chelmsford, Stallard - Finlay, Vaughan, Curnow, Cobby - Bruce, McStravick.

FCSKEMA started off with a 4-4-2 lineup. Starters: Gossage - Pollard, Blanchfield, Chapple, Watkinson - Carvell, Drysdale, Cartwright, Swanson - Long, Geliher.

A. Bruce caused the crowd to go mental with his goal up the middle after 12 minutes. This gave Hope the 1 - 0 lead. D. Geliher of FCSKEMA received a yellow card after 14 minutes for unsportsmanlike behaviour. J. Carvell was doing a great job on his wing, sending in brilliant passes to his teammates in the middle, but J. Swanson seemed unable to profit from this excellent service. F. Finlay of Hope was booked for kicking the ball away after the whistle. Things were going to get worse for the visitors. M. Curnow squirmed through their central defence after 17 minutes, increasing the lead to 2 - 0. Hope put themselves up 3 - 0 when A. Bruce broke through on the right, leaving the entire defence trailing in his wake. Hope solidified their lead at the 31 minute mark, as L. Vaughan dribbled the ball through the opposing central defence and scored to make it 4 - 0. At this point, it was obvious that the players of Hope lowered the tempo and became more defensively oriented. It was 4 - 0 at the break. Possession in this half belonged to Hope, who controlled the ball 80 percent of the time.

Hope's A. Bruce increased the lead to 5 - 0, after he saw his shot go between the legs of the advancing goalkeeper following some good play down the right wing after 48 minutes. By then A. Bruce had scored three goals - a hat trick! L. McStravick increased the lead for Hope to 6 - 0, getting a head onto a hooked ball from the right. The ball looked to have taken a deflection on the way in, but he's claiming it! L. Blanchfield's lack of experience almost gave Hope a goal after 59 minutes, but the shot went right into the keeper's arms. Things were deteriorating for the away team as Hope scored another to make it 7 - 0 after a left side attack resulted in a goal for G. Stallard after 65 minutes. Cheers filled the stadium as K. Chelmsford broke through the visitors' central defence to put away the ball to increase the lead to 8 - 0 to Hope. Possession in the forty-five minutes was dominated by Hope, with 81 percent of the ball.

The most dominating Hope player was without a doubt A. Bruce. G. Stallard was a disappointment, however. Most important FCSKEMA player was J. Carvell. On the other hand, T. Gossage's play was disheartening. The match ends 8 - 0.