Both sides were coming off defeats in their previous matches and met up at Aldershot Park this Sunday to try to turn their luck around.

The Knights took an early lead when Daniel Appleyard intercepted a pass from the Spartans QB and ran it back for twenty-seven yards to score. With the conversion kick going wide the home side settled into a 6 – 0 lead. Appleyard notched his and P A’s second score of the afternoon with a twenty-five yard scamper on their next drive to increase the lead to 12 - 0. With the first quarter coming to close the home side eased out to 20 – 0 with a John Hatcher two yard blast and a Seb Phillips kick added a further eight points to their tally.

The Spartans are a determined outfit and would not allow their heads to drop. Their offense began to pick up its passing game and made significant yardage without quite being able to finish the drives off. James Stillwell added a further two scores and Appleyard completed his hat trick before the half expired with the Knights sitting on a comfortable 38 – 0 lead.

Appleyard added a quick six-yard dart for his fourth early in the third quarter while Seb Phillips hauled in a magnificent fifty yard scoring strike to increase the lead. Phillips promptly booted the extra two points to prove he is equally adept with his feet as he is with his hands and move the score out to 52 – 0.

All credit to the Spartans who were still prepared to battle hard in the fourth quarter. However, possibly a combination of fatigue and an unforgiving P A defense kept them from scoring. Appleyard still in the mood for scoring points achieved his fifth touchdown with an unstoppable thirty-three yard run into the end zone. The final points of the day were scored by P A’s young kicker Callum Fitzpatrick to bring the full time score to 60-0.

Essex Spartans are well coached and will have their day, their determination and commitment was outstanding and it’s only a matter of time before they make their mark. Providing they see this season as a learning curve and continue to develop they can easily force themselves into the reckoning next year. If the season had started two months later the Knights may well have been in a position to challenge this year.