Knaphill produced a ruthless attacking display to sweep aside Thatcham Town 6-2 at The Mettal Stadium in the Combined Counties Premier Division South, with goals flying in at both ends across an incident-packed contest.

The Knappers were on the front foot from the off. In just the second minute, Lynford Sackey surged down the right and pulled the ball back to Aidan King, whose first-time effort was arrowing towards the bottom corner until Maciej Wieczorek produced a superb one-handed save.

Knaphill quickly made their dominance count. On four minutes Sackey robbed Kai Boylan and slipped the ball to Olly Woolgar, who drove into the box and lashed into the roof of the net.

The game was stopped briefly in the 23rd minute when Tom Wensley and William Edwards clashed heads, though both were able to continue.

Woolgar doubled his tally in the 40th minute, finishing off a move started by debutant Louis Collins, whose strong play down the left allowed Ben Mitchell to deliver a low cross for Woolgar to fire home first time into the top corner.

On the stroke of half-time, Wensley’s through ball cut straight through the Thatcham defence. Mitchell raced on, held his nerve, and side-footed into the far corner to make it 3-0 at the break.

Early in the second half, Knaphill skipper Dale Burnham suffered a head injury defending a corner and was forced off, replaced by debutant Joe Throp.

Thatcham hit back on the hour as Alistar Thorp beat the offside trap to drill across Harvey Keogh and into the far corner. Just four minutes later, Callum Willmoth smacked the crossbar with a thunderous free kick as the home side threatened a comeback.

But Knaphill responded emphatically. On 68 minutes Woolgar hooked the ball forward for Sackey, who combined with Collins before the latter was clattered in the box. With protests waved away, the loose ball fell kindly back to Sackey, who calmly slotted low into the corner for 4-1. Collins had worked tirelessly on debut down the left and was replaced shortly afterwards by Elijah Hopwood, who immediately added pace and energy on the flank.

The hosts came close again when Edmundo Junior Da Cruz Coquenao saw his effort scrambled off the line by Jack Carrod and rebound off the post, before King raced back to clear with substitute Jamie Barker ready to pounce. But Thatcham did find a second on 88 minutes, as Callum Winchcombe glanced home a corner from close range.

Knaphill’s control was briefly disrupted when Throp was sin-binned for dissent after kicking the ball away, while Carrod was booked following a tussle with Daniel Smith after a late tackle on Sackey.

With 12 minutes added on, Knaphill’s substitutes made the difference. In the 99th minute Sackey’s persistence down the right forced a fumble from Wieczorek, and Rami Halloufi reacted quickest to drill a left-footed strike through a crowd for Knaphill’s fifth.

Straight from the restart, Hopwood surged down the left, outpacing Aaron Voller and firing across goal. Maurice Black, who had earlier replaced Mitchell, held his run, steadied himself, and sent the keeper the wrong way with a cool finish into the bottom corner to round off a resounding 6-2 win. Jack Baisden also entered late on for Sackey to help see the game out.

By James Carpenter