The Independence Patriots played a home conference game at a neutral location against the Myers Park Mustangs at the Ravens Nest.  The Independence home stadium field is being renovated and the Patriots could not play on their home turf.

However, don’t believe not having home field advantage made a difference in the outcome of the match.  From the outset the Mustangs dominated play with the first half being played on the Patriots side of the field for two thirds of the 40 minute half.  Myers Park kept the pressure on the Independence defense consistently on the attack pushing the ball up the field putting themselves in good position to have scoring opportunities.

With just 5:00 minutes into the game Mustangs midfielder William Martin scored on a header to put Myers Park up 1-0.  Then just 4:00 minutes later Ross Cameron poked in a rebound for the visitors giving them a nice 2-0 lead at the half.  The Patriots best scoring opportunity came when a hot shot on a penalty kick was saved by the Mustang goalkeeper as the ball was heading to the right corner post of the net.  This was an outstanding save as the clock ran out to end the first half of competition.

In the second half the Patriots showed more aggressiveness and applied more offensive pressure of their own trying desperately to get on the scoreboard.  However, the Mustangs solid defense remained strong and only allowed the home team a few scoring opportunities.  In fact C Van Than the Patriots single season record holder for goals with 24 was held to just one scoring opportunity with his rocket shot just sailing over the top post which would have beat the goalkeeper for a goal.

The Patriots in an effort to score their elusive goal had to take some aggressive high risks.  Unfortunately, these risks turned into two additional goals for the Mustangs in the second half of the match.  At 29:00 minutes into the second half Carter Hartley scored on a breakaway aided by a perfect feed pass to give Myers Park a comfortable 3-0 advantage.  Then another breakaway occurred with 19:00 minutes remaining in the game, Gloire Kamwanga scored an unassisted goal to put the game out of reach 4-0.

The Patriots are now 11-4 overall and 5-2 in 4A conference competition.  Myers Park with the win is 10-2 overall and 7-1 in the conference.