SW Cricketers beat Tap & Spile 5-2 in a Division 7 game neither team could afford to lose if they were to keep in touch with the early season pacesetters.

Cricks had the first chance but Nick Rook brought a good save from the Tap keeper who turned his effort over the bar for a corner which came to nothing. Tap then took the lead when the ball was played through to Nathan Crooks and he did well to hold off his man and check back before rolling the ball past Darren Bowles in the Cricks goal. Liam Anderson then rounded the keeper but saw his shot cleared off the line before he was set up by Gaz Deakins and this time made no mistake with a crisp finish for his 11th goal of the season. Gaz Deakins then struck the underside of the crossbar before Tap regained the lead when from a corner the ball was headed home though it took a slight deflection on its way in. Rook then struck the underside of the bar again for Cricks and then headed narrowly over from a corner.

Cricks second half display was possibly their best all season and they equalised very early on in the half when Gaz Deakins shot came back off the keeper and Rook reacted first to fire home. Cricks then took the lead for the first time in the game when Anderson ran onto a through ball and although it looked like the Tap defender would clear the ball Anderson watched as the ball rolled into the net. It was all Cricks but Tap should have equalised when they were awarded a free kick on the edge of the area and it was bent just wide of the far post. Cricks were then awarded a free-kick themselves and when Gaz Deakins free kick was spilled by the Tap keeper Nick Gibbs spooned the ball over when it seemed easier to score. Sub Ash Cormack then almost scored but after a great surging run he screwed his shot wide. Cricks grabbed a 4th and again it was their twin strike force of Rook and Anderson who combined with Rook slotting home. Full credit to the stand-in ref from Tap who said he would have awarded a penalty if Cricks had not scored. The fifth and final goal came when a Tap defender slid in, under pressure from Anderson, and knocked the ball past his own keeper.

Cricks wish to thank stand-in ref Pete Thompson of Tap & Spile who reffed the game when no appointed official turned up.