Knights coach Keishon Smith hailed his side's cohesion after the 2007 Island Soccer League (ISL) champions defeated defending champions Storm 7-4 in a thrilling affair on Thursday night at the National Sports Centre (NSC).

Dubbed the 'super-classico' of the ISL, the game saw fans treated to a tense affair between arguably the two biggest clubs in the league.

After a rather cautious three quarters in which the Knights held a slim 2-1 advantage, goals became aplenty in the final stanza with eight being scored.

Strikes from Aljame Zuill, who notched a hat-trick, a brace from Ryan Purnell and goals from Vincent Minors jr and Cofield Robinson paced the side to a memorable victory.

Angelo Simmons, the league's leading goalscorer, added to his double-hat trick last week with another treble in a losing effort.

Adam Shaw scored the Storm's other goal.

Smith noted after the match that it was team unity that was the deciding factor in his side's morale boosting victory.

"An excellent match, it came down to team discipline really," said Smith. "We had an excellent team display tonight.

"For the ISL, the Knights and the Storm carry the biggest fan base as far as the jersey sales and support we carry, so when we play it is actually like the Real Madrid-Barcelona of the league.

"There is still a long way to go and a lot of work to do, but this puts us in a good mind frame and momentum to continue to keep pushing forward after a victory over the defending champions. It was a great morale boost for us.

"I want to take my hat off to my team because I am fortunate to have 15 guys who come training every session, so that is the key to our success, team togetherness.

"If we continue to stay together, train together then we will go a long way.

"We play every game, and at the end of the day if a team comes out and puts in work and outwork us, then they deserve the win."

In the night's second match, the Apex outlasted the Titans 7-6 in overtime, handing the Titans their second overtime loss of the season.

Randy Robinson scored a hat-trick for Apex while a brace from Shaker Smith and lone tallies by Kaiwon Dill and Jenson Rogers earned Apex the victory.

Titans got their goals from Kyle Jones, who snatched two, K'Wonde Lathan, Takiyah Walker, Zeiko White, and Conneko Trott.

League play resumes tomorrow with a full slate of game scheduled to kick off at 10 am.