Match Reports

Metro 5 Ipswich Knights v KPR 16/04/10

Result: Ipswich Knights 5 KPR 0

Date: Friday 16/04/10

Kick Off: 20:30

Conditions: 8 mile. Cold!

''Ipswich.....it's not the arsehole of the world, but if you stand on a box you can see it from there!''

So said infamous 18th century French poet and vagabond Olivier H Porchrest. Conversely, Ghandi said ''whatever you do in life will be irrelevant, but it's very important that you do it''.

Opting to take the advice of the latter, the KPR Metro 5 troops assembled for the dreaded graveyard shift game out in the middle of nowhere at 8:30 on a chilly Friday evening. As if that wasn't bad enough, they quickly found themselves in more trouble than the red wiggle in Barwon Prison after discovering late in the piece that they were actually at the Ipswich City ground, and NOT the Ipswich Knights where the game was due to take place.

After a frantic cannon ball run style convoy across town, the squad finally arrived at the correct location and after a quick change, jogged out into the cold night air with 5 minutes to spare before kick off! Not what you would call the ideal preparation for what was already a tough game, and with several players out due to injury, the omens were not looking too promising for the visitors.

Despite the early balls up and the fact that some of the boys were still tying their boot laces as the whistle sounded, KPR actually looked lively early on with Neil Gibson getting beyond the Knights defence on 5 minutes and hitting a stinging shot against the post.

Unfortunately, this was to be the story of the night, with the visitors hitting everything but the back of the net during a frustrating 90 minutes. The Knights drew 5-5 with Bethania Rams in early March, and this result could have been a carbon copy but for one small but critical factor! Ipswich put their chances away and KPR didn't. Simple as that. There was also the small matter of the visitors gifting the home side at least 2 of their goals, plus an extremely one sided refereeing performance in the second half (when the ref is on first name terms with the opposition, you know you're in trouble!).

Credit to KPR, they kept putting in to a man until the final whistle, and trudged off the field looking shattered at the end of the game. An honourable mention must go to Neil Gibson for a solid performance in the middle of the park, digging in and showing some real flare, even when the game was well and truly gone.

If yellow cards counted as goals, KPR would have just shaded this match, the frustration getting the better of some of the boys as the game disappeared out of sight. In the end, a combination of the venue, kick off time, miscommunication and wasted chances were too much to overcome, but a lot of teams will be beaten before a ball is even kicked in this tough fixture, and KPR have the perfect opportunity to bounce back with a home derby against Annerley next up.