| Gadeside Rangers were comfortable winners against a depleted MK Ginder side as they cemented their place at the top of the Olympian premier division. It was far from a classic Gadeside performance but they still had enough in their locker to record an emphatic win. |
| The game didn't kick off until gone 11am due to the frozen coniditions and both sides struggled in a scary opening affair on the narrow pitch. With Ginder playing a high defensive line, Gadeside were quick to exploit the space in behind and pressure the home defence. It was no suprise then when Gadeside went ahead on 10 minutes when Russ Popplewell was given a clear run on goal and he comfortably scored - aided by a wandering goalkeeper who didn't seem to know where his goal was. That said, the Ginder custodian produced a string of decent saves during the first half but was unable to prevent Tariq Khan getting a toe to a near post corner from Popplewell to double the lead on 14 minutes. |
| For a while it looked as though Gadeside might go on to score a hatful but the hosts were back in the same with a couple of quick goals. First Yull found the top corner with a screamer of a strike from 25 yards and then Gadeside's defence was caught square and O'Mara just got the ball ahead of Tom Oliver and the ball trickled in off the far post. Gadeside regained their composure and began to better stuff. Tariq Khan regained the lead on 38 minutes when he followed up from close range after his initial effort has been well saved. Playing down the hill in the second half, Gadeside enjoyed a huge bulk of possession but struggled to create any clear cut chances in the early part of the half. |
| Tom Shurville's pass allowed Tom Mitchell to lose the attentions of his marker and he cooly slotted the ball past the advancing keeper to give Gadeside a cushion. Jay Evans saw a free-kick fly over the bar, Popplewell saw a looping head hit the bar and Matt Evans twice went close when up from a corner. But the game was finally settled when Dan Campbell was on hand to finish from close range after Mitchell's effort had been saved. And it was the same man who grabbed the goal of the game after he superbly saved his defender before hitting a rasping drive into the bottom corner from the edge of the area. Campbell nearly grabbed his hat-trick in the dying moments when his ferocious strike from 20 yards was superbly tipped round the post by the keeper. |
| Tom Oliver, Danny Everritt, Justyn Walcott (Ian Freeman), Matt Evans, James Bridges (Ben Higginson), Tom Shurville, Tariq Khan (Jo Bennett), Jay Evans, Dan Campbell, Tom Mitchell, Russ Popplewell |