Mattie has dominated the face-offs recently but had a tougher game today, and this was reflected elsewhere on the field with Mersey bringing some great checking skills to Timperley on this dry Saturday morning. Our attacks have improved in set-up, slowing the pace with more control in the early games of this season and we had a few shots as a result, but it was 2 goals from Kuba breaking direct through from midfield that made the difference in the first quarter.

Whilst we had a number of newer players to call upon, we lacked in depth of squad in midfield and relied heavily on Bruce, Kuba and Mattie through the game and missed the pace of Lukie today. We had to play some of the team out of their natural positions to help their tired legs and great to see some of the newer boys working in defence and attack. Joshua HH demonstrated good intelligent positioning and strong commitment in defence and along with Lucca in goal did very well in keeping it a clean sheet - Mersey were always a threat on the break. Tom Hayton scored the only goal in the quarter, leaving it close at only 3-0 after 2 quarters.

Q3 was very highly contested, and Khalid was unlucky to miss after a good take from Kuba out wide. We kept up the pressure with Bruce scoring in the bottom right corner. Mersey were fast when they recovered the ball, netting their first goal, before Tom forced through to get one back. Mersey held their nerve, keeping mobile in attack, pulling our defence out of position at times. With players unmarked they had the time it needs to beat our excellent keeper Lucca with 2 more goals. To close the 3rd quarter, George won a ground ball and provided the assist to Tom to bag his hat-trick. Score 6-3 to Timperley.

Two early goals for Mersey took our advantage to only 1 goal and tensions rose for everyone. Timperley continued to put pressure on the Mersey defence but their keeper did well in what was only his third game. Mattie shot from distance, surprising a few players, but his instinct for goal was as good as his accuracy. With a buffer of 2 goals, Timperley's middies did well to slow the pace, passing the ball more. An assist from Tom to Kuba, breaking quickly on the wing and getting a shot off from a tight angle closed the score 8-5 to Timperley.

Goals:
Bruce 1
Kuba 3
Mattie 1
Tom 3