KNAPHILL 3 - 3 COLLIERS WOOD UNITED

Knaphill cemented their promotion play-off position in the Combined Counties Premier South with an entertaining draw against bottom of league, Colliers Wood Utd, in front of a crowd of 102.

With both sides entering yesterday’s match with so much to play for, the supporters weren’t disappointed with the six goal thriller.

The first half was fairly even with both keepers hardly being troubled. Knaphill looked like the most likely to score through their approach play and Sani went close with an attempted diving header on 25 minutes from a Jake Hawker cross.

Colliers Wood seemed to be content to soak up the play and hit on the break. However, they did have their best chance of the half in the 36th minute, from a good shot that was saved by Barker. His parry fell to Bailey Ellis who then hit the post with the goal at his mercy.

Half-time was fast approaching, Knaphill opened up the scoring with a superb Seb Karczewski header from a Jake Hawker corner in the 45th minute.

HALF-TIME: Knaphill 1 - 0 Colliers Wood United.

The start of the second half saw Knaphill increase their lead. Karczewski received the ball in a central position, fed it out to Jake Hawker who in turn, slipped it to Aziz. His timely run ended up with a shot into the far corner of the Colliers net to make it Knaphill 2 - 0 Colliers Wood United.

With Knaphill now two goals up, the home side probably thought a few more goals would be easy to come by. However, Colliers Wood really upped their play and caused Knaphill some problems, going close in the 61st minute from a shot that was well saved by Barker following some good play from Colliers Wood's Bailey Ellis.

The game now really opened up with both sides being very creative. One of which saw Sani playing in Jake Hawker from the halfway line, but he was unable to convert the chance.

Colliers hard work was rewarded with a penalty in the 75th minute after a collision in the Knaphill penalty area. Bailey Ellis comfortably scored it to make the score 2-1.

Colliers now sensed the chance to get something out of the game. Their equaliser came in the 87th minute from a corner that seemed to go straight in. 2-2

Despite the shock of the Colliers equaliser, the goal of the game came from Knaphill with their next attack. A flowing four man move was started by a driving run from Will Jacob and finished by Sani after a great cross in by Swift to make it 3-2.

However, with everyone expecting the final whistle, the game kept going and entered the 9th minute of added time. Colliers were awarded a free-kick out wide. A low ball in seemed to strike a hand and the referee gave a second penalty. Once again, up stepped Bailey Ellis to make it 3-3.

This proved to be the last action of a very entertaining game. Credit to both sides for keeping going to the end.

With the final few games of the season approaching, it’s still unclear who Knaphill will get in the playoffs, with several clubs still in the mix to join them.

Next up, Knaphill host promotion play-off hopefuls, Redhill on Saturday. 20 April, 3PM Kick-off.