Cardea used their usual 3-5-2 formation and having been testing it all pre season it is starting to become familiar to the players. Michael Creek started in goal. Although he only just made kick off after his lift, midfielder Gav Earl, lost his phone after falling asleep in Charters beer garden!!

Stand in captain Tom Rimes, Dale Moore and Michael Williams made up the centre backs with Phil Brown and Ryan Moore wingbacks. Kynan Bereznyckyj, Shane Cooke and Earl started in the midfield and Luke Penman and Daniel Robinson played up front.

Aaron Yeoman made his return from injury on the subs bench joined by Billy Thomson and Andrew James who had been called up from the reserve team for cover.

Bretton North End made the brighter start and the Cardea defence, who played superbly throughout, had to be at their best to limit the BNE strikers to half chances. Creek made several good early saves.

BNE almost took the lead from a free kick on the edge of the area but Williams cleared off the line. Moments later Creek was fast off his line to smother the ball at the feet of the striker.

Cardea were struggling to make an impact in the BNE half but on the 27th minute they took the lead against the run of play. A one two between Cooke and Robinson set Cooke off on a magnificent run which saw him beat all BNE players in his path and slot past the keeper into the corner of the goal. It was a great goal and proved to be a turning point in the game.

Ten minutes later Cardea doubled their lead and it was Cooke again. He won a free kick on the edge of the area and took the kick himself. Cooke produced a great effort to beat the wall and the keeper and find the same corner he had found earlier in the game.

On the stroke of half time Cardea made it three. A cross to the back post by Robinson was headed down by Cooke and lashed in by Bereznyckyj to send Cardea into the break 3-0 up against a shell shocked BNE.

Just after the break Cooke could have got his hattrick. He burst clear of the back four but his shot was well saved by the legs of the keeper.

BNE started to gain more possession in the Cardea half but all their efforts were either cleared up by the well oiled defensive line or dealt with by goalkeeper Creek.

However the pressure did tell in the 72nd minute when BNE pulled a goal back through a good move.

Cardea responded well and were always dangerous on the counter attack. In the 81st minute a cross from the left by Cooke was headed out of the box and running onto the ball was sub Andrew James who volleyed the ball home from the edge of the area for a great goal.

The score was a bit too much for some BNE players to accept and some heavy challenged started to go in which joint manager Kev Webster took exception to and had a bit too much to say for himself. A BNE defender went into "psycho mode" and ran over to Webster with fists flying and the game was halted for a couple of minutes while order was restored.

As the game entered the last few minutes BNE pulled a couple of goals back to make the score look respectable, the first was a shot from the edge of the area and the second a very dubious penalty.

The referee brought the game to a finish and it was a very impressive performance by Division 2 team Cardea against a BNE side who will play in Division 1 next season.

After the game joint manager Craig Robinson said: "Very, very good display from every single player today. First 10 we looked a little bit stretched but as soon as the 3 midfielders started hunting the ball down in packs the 3-5-2 took it's shape and we started to control the game.

"Shane's driving runs through the middle of their midfield and back line really had them on the back foot, credit to the front two for closing the spaces down not allowing the opposition time on the ball. Most credit has to go to the back 3, Dale, Willy and stand In skipper Tom looked so strong as a three, the communication was top notch and we only conceded late on.

"Very good display from everyone, three stand out players were Creek, Tom and Shane, my MOTM goes to Tom, looked a absolute unit at the back, no one got past him and he won everything in the air. Thanks to Frags and Billy for stepping up from the reserves to help us out!

"We go again to Walnut Tree next week in our last pre-season game. One very happy gaffer! Have a few bank holiday beers lads, you deserve it!!"

Kev Webster added: "Today showed we are coming to terms more with the new formation and our defending of old has returned which was good. We were counter attacking very well and always looked a threat.

"Cookies direct running was causing all sorts of problems and he was involved in all our good attacking moves and had his usual quality game. For me today was all about the back three and keeper. Dale, Willy, Tom and Creek were outstanding for the 90 mins and with the score line at 4-1 in the 80th minute proved how good they were and was unlucky to concede a penalty late on.

"My man of the match today was the stand in skipper Tom but it was a close call between any of the defenders and keeper. Well done today lads, our performances so far have deserved to beat a decent team. If we apply the attitude and commitment shown in pre season we will have a good season again. Next week is a team in our league so lets apply all we learned so far and get a good result."

Next week the first team travel to Langtoft to play Walnut Tree in a 10.30 kick off.