Streatham significantly raised their chances of lifting the Britton Cup in SW16 thanks to a 7-1 road win at Invicta Dynamos.
The Londoners beat their hosts convincingly to the delight of the travelling fans, who lapped up the display by Michael Farn's side.
Farn said in interviews pre-game that he'd like to keep things close ahead of the 2nd leg home tie, but was boosted even more so when Invicta announced that four of their key players were injured/suspended for the game. The hosts did however bring in Arran Strawson and former Streatham favourite Joe Allen to boost their squad.
It took just over three minutes for Streatham to take the lead as former Mo Brandon Miles slotted home a pass from Farn. Nineteen seconds later it was 2-0 as Ryan Watt converted from a Sam Waller pass. Invicta then hit back straight away to get the home fans on their feet as Richard Harris lit the lamp behind Tom Annetts.
The excitement among the home support was extinguished in less than a minute as Vanya Antonov steamed through to restore the two goal cushion at 3-1. If both sets of supporters weren't entertained enough with a goal flurry at the start of the game, they got to watch a fight as well. Mason Webster dropped the gloves with Brandon Miles in front of the home support and came off second best to the Streatham man, who was begin to enjoy his night.
The bout failed to give the hosts any real momentum and Ben Ealey-Newman made it 4-1 with only ten minutes gone.
After a breathless start to the tie, the game did settle down, however Streatham continued to dominate.
In the 2nd and 3rd periods Dynamos goalie Ben Clements faced a combined total of 35 shots to add to the 30 in the first, conceding just three times. Farn notched early in the second period to make it 5-1 and Danny Ingoldsby made it 6-1 ten minutes later. The only goal of the 3rd period came eight minutes from time as the smiling Ziggy Beesley rounded off a satisfying night for both Streatham players and fans.
The second leg of the cup final takes place at Streatham Arena on Sunday evening with Streatham looking favourites to lift the Cup in front of their own fans for only the second time in just under 40 years.