Bradley Stoke Town, desperate to hold onto their good footing in the table hosted the BAWA Aces who are currently top of the division. Three points taken from the leaders would place Stoke in a great position entering into the 2006 campaign, however a single mistake would see them engulfed by the mob of teams just below them.

Bradley Stoke started brightly with the ball flowing freely down the wings and through the middle. They quickly regained their position after each attack.
Early in the first half Jerry Harper finished a couple of great goals to put Stoke two up. The first, a loose ball calmly rounding the keeper an nonchalantly stopping the ball on the line before finishing with ease, and the other, a lovely curling freekick that left the Aces keeper rooted to the spot.
Towards the end of the first half BAWA were gaining momentum as they won more and more possession. BAWA struck back with a great curling shot at the top of the box by Paul Barnes. This was followed shortly by a quality towering header on a corner by Paul Woodward.

Equal at half time with a 2-2 score, both teams came out to battle for the second half. Everyone on the field of play was digging deep on both sides to break the dead lock. At both ends the opportunities fell to no avail. Then, just 15 minutes from the end of the game BAWA got the advantage with Michael Chidgey latching onto a lofted ball that went in off the post.
In the disbelief of the moment Bradley Stoke became completely out of tune with the match. Within a minute BAWA had scored again as Marco Reis waltzed around the defenders in the box. Distraught with the second goal and any prospect of getting any points out of the game that Bradley Stoke had all worked so hard to win, their heads dropped and lactic acid burnt inside their legs. Reis took advantage and finished with two more goals for a hat trick in the last 10 minutes. It was a bitter blow to Stoke. Hopefully they will rebound with Christmas spirit and get on another winning run as they travel to Seymour in the New Year.

6-2 is far from a fair representation of this game which both teams working so hard to win, but it does show how the psychology of the game can quickly over take a team.

Match report courtesy of Roger Smith.