Report

Knowsley Rangers are now hitting their stride and they took to the pitch today like a team confident in their own ability.
This is just as well as today we were joined by family and friends from afar - Mackenzie’s relatives had joined us from London.
I’m sure prior to kick off they would have wanted to see a great performance.
And I doubt they will have been disappointed at the end of the 40 minutes.
Mackenzie walked away with another man of the match accolade and Knowsley notched up their seventh consecutive win to make it nine wins from 10 games with only one loss of the season so far.
More importantly, today was one of the best games of the season in my view.
Playing at home we faced Rainford Real for the second time since the start of October.
They are a great side, skilful, strong and confident.
The last time we played them we won 3-2 but it was a close game, not helped by the strong winds blustering across their open ground.
We learned last time out that there is no room to sit back against Rainford. They are good on the counter attack, solid in defence and creative in midfield.
But we also found out that we are more than equal in measure.
So when the match kicked off, it was little wonder that the pace was fast, the tackling strong and the play tight.
Both sides again looked to be closely matched.
And as I stood there proudly looking on, not just on my own son in defence, it was clear that the first to break the deadlock would more than likely go on to win the game.
And I was right too.
Knowsley opted to play up hill to start.
The first four minutes flew by but with Knowsley gaining the upper hand in terms of possession and intent.
Rainford were defiant in defence and resilient for the first few attacks on their goal by Knowsley.
But on the stroke of the fourth minute, David put the home side ahead.
A wonderful assist from Georgie who had managed to push on from the back, saw the ball slotted through to David.
David still had plenty to do but he kept calm and knocked the first goal home.
This had now helped to settle Knowsley’s belief and their confidence grew.
Mackenzie showed the best of the Knowsley creativity with Michael playing a crucial holding role in the middle.
A combative Michael let nothing past him in this period and he sprayed the ball out wide the Mackenzie several times.
This enabled Mackenzie to attack the Rainford goal in a string of forward raids but each time the Rainford defence was there to cut the crosses out.
In the best of those raids Mackenzie crossed to a waiting Paul who shot low and hard but was very unlucky not to get a goal as the Rainford keeper made the save.
The game remained tight for most of the first half.
Rainford’s bets chance game with a wonderful counter attack.
Knowsley having pushed forward found themselves with two on one situation.
Daniel remained at the back and held the game up as much as he could but as the Rainford striker managed to get through Michael appeared from nowhere to help out and stop the attack by conceding a corner.
Rainford took it and some stunning goalkeeping from Will made sure that the half ended 1-0 for the home side.
Although it was a close affair come the half time break it was also clear that Knowsley were looking the side more likely to win especially with the second half advantage of playing slightly down hill.
So as the game restarted Rainford tried to push on and as they did it created more space for Knowsley to exploit.
Within two minutes Knowsley took advantage of this space and Paul linked up with David in a great counter attack.
On another day this would have ended with a goal but today it narrowly missed.
Three minutes later though Rainford conceded a free kick.
Up stepped Michael and as he put the ball down there was only going to be one outcome.
From 20 yards out he struck it magnificently and the Rainford goalie could do little to keep it out and so Knowsley went two up.
Knowsley then made a tactical change.
Paul, who had a fabulous game again, made way for Matthew. This added a new impetus for Knowsley up front.
Four minutes later Matthew picked up a loose goal kick from Rainford, rounded one of their defenders, entered the left side of the opposition box and hammered the ball across the face of the goal to make it Knowsley’s third.
This was an excellent goal.
Rainford showed they were not beaten.
They applied pressure on the Knowsley half but Michael was proving magnificent in the middle of the field.
He managed to cut out most of the threat and when Rainford did break a waiting Daniel was there to bring matters to a close for Knowsley’s benefit.
On the rare occasion that Rainford did manage to get near the Knowsley goal, Will was awesome.
He made some stunning blocks and saves today.
As one Rainford spectator said to me on the touchline “he’s a brilliant goalkeeper,” and I would say he wasn’t wrong.
The pressure from Rainford in the end did pay off though.
With five minutes to go they breached the Knowsley defence down the left and managed to pull one back.
Again Knowsley made a change with Mackenzie making way for Owen.
And Owen, now up front, came on to prove a point.
With just two minutes left he was one on one with the Rainford keeper.
He shot but a great save stopped the score from widening.
Today was again another great team performance.
There were some obvious highlights from players such as Mackenzie, Georgie and Michael.
And the unsung hero of the game for me was undoubtedly Will. He was solid today.
But all the players did their bit today. Daniel again was solid in defence, Paul, David and Matthew were fast and terrier-like up front. Owen was great when he came on and Georgie was captain-like.
It was nothing short of a team performance in every way.
However, in the end I hope Mackenzie’s and the team’s performance put some icing on the cake for his family.
I certainly hope they were not surprised but delighted.
We wish them all a safe trip home and will welcome them back anytime to our games!