City of Manchester 5 Knutsford 6

KNUTSFORD are on course for a sixth-placed finish in North West Men’s League Division Two after edging an 11-goal thriller at the weekend.

The Black Knights, who will complete the campaign at home to South Cheshire this Saturday, shared in an entertaining encounter with fellow mid-table outfit City of Manchester.

The visitors established a two-goal lead early on, scoring first when a rebound from a short corner fell to Stuart Kenyon who opened his account for the season.

Richard Saxton then fed Chris Drake to make it 2-0 before the hosts hit the net three times in quick succession to edge ahead.

Knutsford scored an equaliser straightaway; Kenyon, Mat Hodge and Tom Howard combining to tee up Simon Trenbirth, who dummied the goalkeeper before stroking home.

City of Manchester made it 4-3, but Trenbirth restored parity again before the break when he converted a short corner that deflected in off a defender.

The game’s ninth goal arrived the same way, this time full back Simon Locke sweeping in his third goal of the term. 

It was soon 5-5, when a shot went in by looping over the line.

Hodge was then dismissed for dissent with five minutes left after protesting against the umpires’ decision to change their mind after initially awarding to Knutsford a penalty flick.

From the resulting short corner, Trenbirth waltzed past a covering defender before firing past the goalkeeper to settle the outcome.