Knutsford 4-1 West Derby

KNUTSFORD had maximum points secured by the break of their meeting with West Derby thanks to Graeme Wolfenden’s first-half hat-trick.

The Black Knights have now won two of their first three matches after returning to the North Men’s League, encouraging early signs they can compete at a higher level.

They travel next to Windermere on Saturday, push-back 1.30pm.

It’s a trip they make buoyed by dismantling their guests at Westfield Drive last weekend, when Wolfenden opened the scoring with a trademark drag-flick.

He repeated the trick from another short-corner to double their lead, scoring with power.

Knutsford didn’t relent, and he found the net a third time from the top of the D to put the home team out of their opponents’ reach.

They added to their tally ahead of the interval too when Keelan Sherwani ended a dribble down the left with a pull-back for Cam Geimer to slot a neat finish past the goalkeeper.

An opportunity to net a fifth goal went begging too when Gary Brown missed from the penalty spot.

Knutsford continued to apply pressure after the interval although with a comfortable lead they were less accurate and ill-discipline crept into their play.

West Derby claimed a consolation with time running out, a small blemish on an otherwise positive performance by Tom Howard’s team.

“I was happy with our intent in the first-half,” said the captain afterwards.

“But we lacked a killer instinct in the second.”