ac milanda afc

AC Milanda 5 Pursuers 1-Mount Vernon Park, Mount Vernon

A cold foggy morning welcomed the players to Mount Vernon Park. The game looked to be in doubt for a short time but fortunately the fog lifted in time for the kick off at 10am. Milanda saw Early, Wilson and Williamson return to the first eleven and Milanda kicked off in a familiar 4-4-2 formation.

Milanda were on the attack from the first whistle and pinned Pursuers back in their own half and leaving them the only option of punting long balls out of defence to relieve the pressure. This just gave Milanda the chance to build attack after attack and it was from one of these attacks that Milanda won the free kick that led to the first goal. Murray was upended 25 yards from goal and as everyone expected Wilson to take a shot at goal he knocked it sideways to Early. He was quickly closed down but he evaded a couple of tackles and hit a shot from just inside the box that ended up in the left hand bottom corner.

Milanda continued to keep the pressure on and it was no surprise when goal number two arrived. Some clever play down the right between Coyle and Murray saw the latter hit a low and hard cross into the Pursuers six-yard box and Fitzpatrick was once again on hand to finish the move off in a similar fashion to his goal last week. It was soon three after Milanda won a corner on the right. Wilson’s low cross found Williamson at the front post who attempted to flick the ball goal ward. The result was the ball ending up in the Pursuers net and like any striker would, Williamson claimed the goal as his own. The ref confirmed Williamson got the final Milanda touch despite it hitting a Pursuer player on it’s way in and that’s good enough for this reporter.

Milanda should have gone on to kill the game off at this point and MacKay, who was desperate to get his first Milanda goal, had a couple of half chances but it just wasn’t to be his day in front of goal. Milanda spurned a few more chances before Pursuers grabbed themselves a lifeline. The Pursuers left back found himself in space from a throw in and had plenty of time to measure his delivery into the Milanda box. The Milanda defence stood still as a Pursuer player slid in to touch the ball onto the post and into the net.

This was how things stood at half time but Milanda were annoyed at losing the goal after dominating the first half for long spells. Pursuers started the second half better than the first and began to put some pressure on the Milanda defence who were being stretched and gaps began to appear. Milanda were lucky not to concede during this spell but some tough defending by Grant, Early, Preston and Scott kept the Pursuers forwards at bay. Milanda did have some chances of their own but MacKay was frustrated once more and an attempted shot by Coyle brought a smile to a number of Milanda faces. On top of this the sight of Fitzpatrick falling over but still managing to pass the ball to Murray as it fell out of the sky meant the game almost had to be stopped for people laughing.

Milanda made a couple of substitutions with Fawns and MacKenzie coming on for Wilson and Grant. The turning point of the second half happened soon after. Pursuers were awarded a free kick on the edge of the Milanda box and as the wall was being put in place Pursuers took advantage and hit the free kick early. It looked to be heading for the top corner but Preston got a fingertip to it and tried to knock it over but it hit the underside of the bar and bounced out into the path of 3 onrushing Pursuers players. You would have bet your house on a goal being scored but somehow Preston got a foot to the forward’s downward header and the danger was cleared. A fantastic double save.

It was the warning Milanda needed and with Reid on the park in place of Fitzpatrick they killed the game off. A long ball out of defence found MacKay who laid the ball off to Coyle. His lung bursting run took him into the Pursuers penalty area with support coming from Fawns. Fawns took a pass from Coyle and hit his first shot against the defender, fortunately if fell kindly for him and he buried the second attempt behind the Pursuers keeper. The goal finally killed off Pursuers who realised the game was now lost. Milanda could have had more goals but had to settle for only one more and it again came form the right boot of Fawns from almost the same position as his first. His shot found its way through a ruck of players before settling in the bottom right corner.

Apart from the free kick in the second half that would have made the last 15 mins a bit nervy Milanda controlled the game for long periods and deserved to win. A solid team performance all round. The first time this season 2 league games have been won in a row so maybe we can think about getting a run together to take us back up the table.

Website man of the match – A good team display. Coyle managed to beat every player on the park 4 times and that was just his first run but a good display form him and Murray in midfield. Chris Preston made a great double save at a vital time. Brother Scott was again commanding in the heart of the defence but this week’s man of the match goes to his central defensive partner Ross Early who combined his defensive duties with runs to support the midfield and capped good performance with a well taken goal.

Disclaimer. All the above characters are fictional and any similarities to persons living or dead are entirely coincidental.