Michelin Athletic Club 1 Rosegrove Railway Club 6

ON the face of it, this game promised to be a typical end of season non-event. Two sides at the wrong end of the table, going through the motions, while they dreamt of better things to come next September.

In fact the opposite occurred and with both sides committed to open, attacking football, the game turned out to be a highly entertaining affair.

In the ninth minute Rosegrove swept in front with a well-taken goal from John Hutton.

Scott Broxup, unable to create an opening for himself, squared the ball into the path of Hutton who struck a sweep shot wide of Barker from 12 yards.

From then on Rosegrove took control and it needed a combination of good goalkeeping from Paul Barker and solid defending from Trevor Haywood to prevent Gary Ponton and Scott Broxup increasing the lead.

And when bodies were in short supply to repel the lively Rosegrove forwards it was left to the woodwork to come to the rescue as Kendall hit the crossbar and Broxup rounded the keeper only to see his shot rebound to safety off the foot of the post.

But Broxup got the goal he deserved in the dying seconds of the first half. Bursting through the Michelin defence, he waltzed around Paul Barker and this time, steered the ball inside the post with clinical accuracy.

Not the best time to concede a second goal, but an inspirational substitution at half time by manager Micky Whitworth resulted in Michelin scoring directly from the restart. Within seconds of Mr Scott blowing his whistle to start the second half, substitute Ashley Waddington collected the ball on the edge of the Rosegrove penalty area and lashed an unstoppable shot past Steve Chapman.

More goals had to come and with Michelin still prepared to push forward and leave gaps at the back. Rosegrove stepped up a gear and went really to town. In the 60th minute Darren Fullard hit a glorious shot from the edge of the box and the visitors were 3-1 up. Two minutes later a Chris Wareing 40 yard cross-come-shot, sailed over the head of Paul Barker to make it 4-1 and in the 67th minute Jason Plumb released Scott Broxup who evaded Paul Barker's brave attempt to smother the ball and fired into an empty net to make it five.

Mick Dugdale almost pulled one back for Michelin, his well struck shot forcing Chapman to save well at the foot of the post. But in the end it was Rosegrove's Jason Plumb who had the last word. Collecting a neat pass from Hutton, the big man showed excellent skill and composure as he drew Barker off his line and stroked a perfect shot, low inside the near post.

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