Melville United’s relegation from the Bluebird Premier League has been anticipated for many weeks now, and on August 30 their fate was confirmed at Albie Turner Field.  Feltonmix Metro hammered home the final nail, wracking up seven goals without reply to return themselves to winning ways with a vengeance.
It could have been a different story on the night, however, had the visitors scored either or both of their chances in the first ten minutes.  Sean Hird’s timely tackle denied Dave Haakma in the act of shooting,  while Keith Fraser  was foiled by a fine save at his feet by  Wayne Roach.
Mark Cossey and Steve Nickson exchanged efforts before the home team found their feet,  “Nicko” hitting the side-netting in the 23rd minute after Sakdy Phommahaxay, Danny McHenery and Stu Roberts had combined to good effect on the left.
Metro opened the scoring in the 29th minute, Darron Jackson sweeping the ball home for his first goal of the season after a Nickson-inspired attack down the right.
After Roberts had sent a twenty-yarder whistling inches over the top, the defending champions further extended their lead six minutes before the break.  Nickson again sparked things, crossing to Jackson.  His header hit the underside of the bar and came out, only for McHenery to the race in and power home  the rebound.
Desperate defence kept the score at 2-0 at the interval, Roberts being denied by both Hamish Rolls and Greg Larson before Nickson found the sidenetting yet again.
The club’s leading scorer was brought down by Wayne Galletly three minutes into the second spell, to which the well-performed debutante, John Lawler, responded by thumping the free-kick home from the edge of the penalty area.
Within five minutes, Metro had added a fourth, and were unlucky not to have netted a fifth.  Roberts’ effort was the near miss, but Nickson’s from the penalty spot, gave Rolls no chance in the 53rd minute, after the striker had been felled inside the area on this occasion, by Stu  Timings.
 Nickson was guilty of the miss of the night moments later, while Roberts was denied by Gary Board on the hour, before Cossey had dreadful luck, hitting the inside of the post with a shot which came back into play, rather than crossing the line.
Rolls denied Nickson again before McHenery made it 5-0 in the 68th minute, heading home a Lawler corner with power aplenty.  Cossey’s vameo run sixty seconds later – he had Metro defenders going every which way ended up with the ball in Roach’s hands, rather than in the back of the net, which would have been a more appropriate reward for such a fine piece of individual skill.
Metro’s sixth goal, in the 73rd minute, was a beauty, Roach cleared to Nickson, who linked with McHenery to put in Chris Whalley.  With his first touch, the substitute cracked home a corker, while four minutes later, Nickson completed the rout by rounding Rolls and firing the ball home via the inside of the far upright for number seven.
 

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