16th January 2005 - Away 11.00am KO vs. Oulton Mariners - Shield

Result - Lost 4-0

Mutford bowed out of the shield at the hands of first division Oulton Mariners. Mutford started well but is was Mariners who broke the deadlock. The ball fired in from long range was spectacularly pushed onto the post by 'keeper Harrison, a Mariners striker reacted first to poke the ball home. The second followed when Mutford had temporarily gone down to 10 men with mid-field man Jason off receiving treatment to a sore ankle, as Mariners attacked a mix-up in the Mutford defence and a lone defender playing the Mariner on-side as the defence moved out.

Half-time 0-2

The second half saw a slight improvement to the Mutford play, but again it was Mariners who were the slightly stronger and added to their tally with a well worked goal which was nearly stopped on the line by the impressive Jordan W. Shortly after Mariners hit a fourth to seal the game.

Mark Smith said after the game, "We always knew that this would be a tough game, we played Mariners in a pre-season friendly and they had shown us then how well disciplined they were. I am a bit disappointed with our performance but we did take some plusses out of the game. There were good performances and I particularly please with Jordan W, who had done well after missing a couple of games. Good luck to Mariners in the next round".

Man of the Match - Jordan W.

Posted 17^th January 2005