City of Manchester 0 Ben Rhydding 5

Ben Rhydding clinched the Men's North Division One Title with an emphatic victory.

Despite being without the key trio of skipper, Dave Exley, Kieran Borrett, and George Sweeting, Ben Rhydding had the look of champ- ions.

Manchester, fighting to avoid relegation, defended ferociously.

Tom Zillessen had several reverse shots blocked, Josh Sykes slid onto a great ball and Elliot Dowley connected with a big ball in from the Tynan Cassidy, but Manchester smothered the lot.

The home side had some punch on the counter attack and David Carter had to pull off a couple of impressive saves.

The game was still goal- less at half-time, but Rhydding knew it was only a matter of time before they found the net but Manchester, like a cornered animal, were not going down without a fight.

Rhydding started the second half with com- posure and kept good possession.

As Rhydding began to find their flow, Man- chester became increas- ingly reckless.

Tom Zillessen found bodies thrown in front of several of his reverse shots and the tackles became very physical.

The low point came when a Manchester defender, exasperated at the skills he was facing, punched the artificial pitch and broke his own hand.

These tactics were inevitably going to fall down and when Elliot Dowley connected with an aerial and broke away into the D, his silky skills were too much for the sandwich move placed upon him and a corner was duly issued.

The wily Neil Sugden slipped the ball shrewdly to Zillessen who picked his spot.

The floodgates were about to open and Callum Franks went close on a break away.

A corner saw Zillessen execute a spectacular, diving, one-handed re- verse shot into the roof of the net to make it 2-0.

Alex White just missed a corner deflection but netted the third goal after good work by Harry Sherlock.

Beautiful connections between Elliot Dowley and Will Musgrave ripped Manchester’s defence apart on the left flank..

Harry Bush ended a divine passage of play to give Musgrave his favourite ball so that he could unleash a reverse shot which smashed against the backboard.

This was Aussie, Tynan Cassidy’s last game for the club and coaches, Demy Dowley and Jono Mc- Millan called him up to take the last corner.

It was a joyous moment for the team when he thundered the ball into the net to claim the final goal as his parting gift.

Rhydding’s final game will be the centre piece of the club’s Presidents’ Day on April 20.