ac milanda afc

Allander 3 AC Milanda 2 - KGV, Bearsden

Windy conditions and a poor first half performance led to Milanda’s league campaign getting off to the worst possible start against Allander in Bearsden. Three new faces were added to the Milanda squad. Gavin Harper replaced Chris Preston in goal to give him time to recover from a niggling thigh injury. The other new faces were James Gardener and Kevin McKinlay (brother of Charlie who played a few games for Milanda a couple of season ago) they were joined on the bench by Mark Callender. Martin Coyle returned to the starting eleven.

The wind was a major factor in this game and Allander having won the toss chose to play with the wind behind them in the first half. The early stages saw both teams struggle in the conditions and little of any note happened. Gradually Allander adapted to the conditions better and began to test the Milanda defence. A superb one-handed reaction save from Harper after an Allander forward found space on the left kept the scoreline goal-less.

This only postponed the opening goal by a few minutes. Milanda failed to keep possession and from the resultant breakaway Allander took a deserved lead. In a mirror image of last week's game Milanda were again failing to string two passes together and were constantly caught in possession or guilty of picking the wrong option.

Surprisingly given how poor the game was it suddenly burst into life with 3 goals in 3 minutes. First Allander went two up after Milanda’s Williamson was guilty, once again, of losing possession on the halfway line and Allander took full advantage. Milanda finally woke up at this point and replied immediately with an acrobatic effort from Reid after the first decent Milanda passing move of the game. Then incredibly straight from kick-off Allander found the Milanda byeline and despite Milanda having six players in the box the cut back found a team mate unmarked and for the second week running an unfortunate ricochet wrong footed a Milanda goalkeeper. The remainder of the half finished without further incident and a subdued Milanda team left the pitch.

With the wind at their backs for the second half Milanda laid siege to the Allander goal. Allander found it almost impossible to get out of their half and were reduced to desperate defending against the Milanda onslaught. Milanda made two early second half changes with McKinlay and Gardener making their Milanda debuts in place of Grant and Williamson, neither of whom had their best games in a Milanda jersey.

At this stage crosses and shots were flying in from all angles as Milanda tried to get back into the game but just couldn’t find the vital final touch. Reid had a great chance with a header in the six-yard box that looked easier to score but unfortunately went over the bar. He made up for his miss a few moments later when perfectly judging a corner and heading past the Allander keeper. At this stage it seemed only a matter of time before Milanda equalised as they continued to keep Allander penned in. Chances fell to Coyle, Reid and Callender (who replaced Scott) and a free kick from Fawns that hit the bar.

As time ran out Allander finally broke out of defence and should have sealed the game when they were three on two but the Allander forward decided to go it alone when passing seemed the better option. It still took another great save from Harper to keep him out but a pass across the penalty box would have provided an easy tap in.

This was the last real action of the game and Allander hung on for three points and have to be congratulated for their backs against the wall second half performance. Milanda can point to a poor first half display and bad luck in front of goal but too many players just didn’t play to the level their capable of and will have to find their form soon if Milanda are serious about challenging for the title.