22 October 2005 - Teck Junior Cup 2nd round
Darkside 10 - Heathfield Reserves 2
Team: Adrian, Alan, Andy, Ant, Ben M, Ben S, Chris K, Craig, Dan B, Dan S, Ian, Mike, Phill, Tim
Goals: Adrian, Alan, Ant, Ben M x3, Craig, Mike x2, Tim / Assists: Alan x5, Mike x3, Tim x2 / MOTM: Ant / MM: Ben S

Same time, same place and another cup competition. Darkside were hoping to build on the success of last weeks Surrey Cup performance, with manager Neil Tanna wasting no time in ringing the changes. Keeper Andy Mayes replaced Big Ben Exley between the sticks, Anthony Wright came in for Ian Harris at right back, skipper Craig Kingston in the holding role for Chris Kidwell and Ben Mole replacing his name sake Saunders on the right side of a five man midfield.

Let the rout commence. From the off Darkside dominated in all areas of the pitch against Heathfield Reserves and it seemed only a matter of time until the opening goal came. Fletcher had an early dipping effort well saved by the Heathfield keeper; then the breakthrough came. A cross from Alan Fletcher, whipped in from the left, was poked home by Ben Mole. 1 – 0. Adrian Boyd up from the back headed a second from a Tim Gale corner. 2 – 0. Then came Alan Fletcher’s moment of glory. A flick on header set Mike Masaku away down the right who then whipped in a cross for Fletcher to tuck away. 3-0. Next on the score sheet was Ben Mole who slotted home his second of the game, again from a Fletcher cross. 4-0. At this point the crowd were beginning to wonder just how many goals a rampant Darkside were going to get. Then up popped Mike Masuku for his first of the game, just getting in ahead of Dan Swain to nod in, from yet another Fletcher cross. The final goal of the half came from Darkside’s Roy Keane, Craig Kingston. A thunderous drive from outside the area deflected in to the bottom left hand corner. No prizes for guessing who got the assist.

Half time and a happy Darkside retreated to the touch line to hear the words of wisdom from boss Neil Tanna.

The second half began with no changes in personnel. The first goal of the second half proved to be Ben Mole’s hat-trick, the first of his professional career. Getting bored of mentioning who set it up. Number eight came from a mazy Masuku run, who showed plenty of strength and pace to hold off challenges from the Heathfield defenders and showed a cool head in slotting pass the helpless goalie. Surprisingly, not a Fletcher assist, but Gale. Then, came what could be argued as the goal of the game. A quick throw from Mole and a flick on by Masuku, allowed the on running Wright to latch onto the pass, beat the last defender and rifle a right foot drive into the roof of the net. His first competitive goal in six years. The rout was finally ended by a goal from Tim Gale, a fine effort from the edge of the area, with Masuku rounding off a fine performance with the final assist.

During the game Heathfield did manage to notch up two goals. One a lucky toe poke at the back post and the other a free-kick which looped over the helpless Andy. They also had a penalty which was dragged wide, but was well covered by Andy had it been on target. The only other notable talking point was the booking of Darkside's left back Phill Neill for descent.

A quite superb display by every member of the team and judging by this performance a successful season filled with silverware surely awaits the darkside squad.

Match report by: Ant