10 MAN CARDEA THRASH MOORHEN

Cardea FC (4-5-1): Gavin Sampson; Anthony Kiernan, Stuart Yaxley (c), Dale Moore, Kynan Bereznyckyj; Alex Goymour, Aaron Yeoman, John Reddell, Shane Cooke, Daryn Whiteman; Luke Penman. Subs: Rob Ames, Charlie Bosett, Aiden Stanford, Gav Earl.

Cardea made a bright start to the game and Penman almost scored in the 3rd minute but for a fine save from the Moorhen keeper.

Penman wouldn't be kept out for long though as he ran onto a great reverse pass from Reddell to slot past the keeper.

Cardea should have had two penalties in the next 5 minutes after fouls in the area but the referee said no.

Moorhen then drew level against the run of play before taking the lead as the 20th minute approached.

Cardea had chances to draw back level in the first half but the Moorhen keeper played well to deny the attackers.

Cardea lost Goymour mid way through the half as he went in for a 50/50 with the keeper and took a stud to the shin, leaving him with a big cut to his leg.

The second half started as well as the first for Cardea as Whiteman scored a wonder goal. Cooke passed to Whiteman wide on the edge of the box and he picked out the top corner with a great shot.

On the hour mark came the turning point in the game. Yaxley gave away a foul and the Moorhen attacker reacted with a punch to the face of the Cardea captain and was pushed away by Yaxley. The referee inexplicably decided to award a yellow to the Moorhen attacker and send off Yaxley.

Cardea reacted well to the set back and, playing a 3-3-3 formation, managed to regain the lead. A 30 yard shot from sub Stanford was kept out by the keeper but Penman was first to react to bury the loose ball.

The lead was increased minutes later thanks to a superb solo goal from Ames. The striker ran the ball across the pitch, screamed at Whiteman not to touch it, continued into the box and slotted home a great goal.

10 men Cardea continued to attack Moorhen and reaped the rewards. After missing an easy chance earlier Bosett chose to pass to Penman for the striker to wrap up his hat-trick.

Cardea added a sixth in the dying minutes as Cooke picked the ball up deep and evaded a few tackles before finishing well to record a convincing victory against a team who "stopped trying at 2-2".

There was time for the referee to miss another Cardea penalty as Reddell was taken down in the area. A decision so obvious even the defender admitted it was a penalty.

After the game manager Craig Robinson said: "Another 3 points against a poor team. We started well and should have been out of sight inside 10 minutes, got rocked by their equaliser and lowered to their levels and went in at HT 2-1 down.

"Re-grouped and got level with Daryn's worldie then being reduced to 10 men could have ended our title fight there and then but we dug in, made positives changes bringing Aiden in to give us more going forward and throwing Charlie on up top to play a 3-3-3 formation and we ended up running Moorhen ragged with a player less.

"Their keeper was by far their man of the match stopping 5/6 certain goals. Congratulations to Penman on another 3 goals and the other scorers. My Cardea MOTM is Penman just beating Reddell.

"Fingers crossed Alex's doesnt need to many stitches

"Well done and now we have to win next week at Allbright or the title is as good as theirs!"

Next week Cardea FC take on AFC Allbright at Werrington in a top of the table clash.