Vs. White Knight (A)
Starting XI	Substitutes:
Grant Lewis
Dave Mills
Alan Cowley
Max Sztyber
Paul Ford	(70 Paul Rook)
Dale Scowen (c)
Ollie Jeffs
Andy Mills
Ian Rafiti	(65 Seb Elliott)
Joe O’Neill	(50 Tom Frere-Smith)
Gary Walsh
Referee: P Dreeling
Goals: O’Neill, Jeffs, Walsh, Scowen, Frere-Smith.
HT Score: 2-0
FT Score: 5-0

Battle Baptists reached the semi-final of the Super Stitch 86 Challenge Cup in impressive style on Saturday defeating a bewildered White Knight team with clinical finishing and strong defending.

With three first team players missing and top scorer Tom Frere-Smith caught in traffic before kick off, Joe O’Neill was promoted from the subs bench and made the most of an unexpected start, opening the scoring after 10 minutes with a firmly guided diving header from an Alan Cowley free kick.

Undeterred, White Knight retaliated fiercely, attacking down both flanks and threatening to break Battle’s defensive wall. The outcome of the game may have been very different had the Baptists not survived a convincing penalty appeal when a clumsy challenge left the White Knight striker pole-axed inside the area.

After this, the towering Battle back four repelled any further attacks and with White Knight’s arsenal exhausted, hope of a semi-final spot became more firmly rooted when the hardworking O’Neill crossed from the right and Ollie Jeffs stretched out a leg to poke in Battle’s second just before half time, leaving the home team visibly wounded.

Hero-of-the-hour O’Neill was replaced by a fresh-legged Frere-Smith minutes into the second half with both teams recognising the importance of the next goal. Battle struck the killer blow when Ian Rafiti showed superb wing play, beating three defenders on a skilful surge to the by-line where he pulled his cross back for Gary Walsh to thump a close range volley into the heart of the open net.

Defeated and dejected, White Knight conceded a fourth minutes later as captain Dale Scowen threw down his gauntlet, curling a shot round the keeper form 16 yards.

Battle substitutes Seb Elliott and Paul Rook replaced the effervescent Rafiti and the injured Paul Ford as White Knight pushed more and more men forward in an attempt to score but a calamitous mistake by a weary defender led to Tom Frere-Smith finalising the scoreline with a coolheaded pass into an empty goal from 18 yards.

Determined to keep his sheet clean, keeper Grant Lewis made a double point blank save at a corner, by which time White Knight had already surrendered any hope of a comeback.

After such a convincing win, Battle will count their blessings and hope that a similar team performance against Bexhill AAC on 23^rd February will take them all the way to the final.