ac milanda afc

MILANDA clung on to top spot in the Glasgow and District Saturday Morning
League thanks to a battling second-half performance.

The young and enthusiastic Garnethill players were well on top in the first 45 minutes but a combination of bad luck and poor finishing saw them end it with just a one-goal advantage. After the turnaround the game was a much more even affair but again the visiting team let good opportunities slip away while Milanda took two of their chances and walked off with the points. Over the piece no one in the Milanda camp would have argued had Garnethill taken a point but for some reason we appear to have become their bogey team.

Garnethill's goal was a poor one from Milanda's point of view. It came from a corner in the 18th minute and the close-range header could have been defended better.

Craig Fawns had some good saves in the first half and a slice of luck when one of the Garnethill players slipped the ball past him and it bounced back off the post into his arms. Milanda, with Englishman Adam Hardwick playing a trial on the right of midfield, were rarely seen as an attacking force in that opening period. A new front two of Gerry Evans and Martin Bradburn worked hard enough but chances were hard to come by and the only real threat came from a long-range Kevin Grehan shot that the keeper turned round the post.

Milanda looked much brighter after the restart and were unfortunate not to get back on level terms when Mark Walker's header from a Grehan corner just cleared the bar. But it was 1-1 on the hour mark. Marc McColgan did well on the left to get a cross in and although Bradburn couldn't quite get on the end of it the ball broke between Hardwick and a defender and the trialist was strong enough to make it his and thump his shot past the keeper from eight yards.

Garnethill were still making chances but their No.9 put one past the post with only the keeper to beat and then one of their defenders headed straight at Fawns with the goal at his mercy. At the other end the Garnethill keeper had a good save from a Scott Preston header and when the loose ball was fired back across goal by Hardwick it just had too much pace on it and Bradburn was unable to knock it home. Centre-back Preston came up trumps with 10 minutes to go when he arrived late in the box to side-foot a Grehan free-kick into the net with the calm authority of a striker.

Garnethill mounted the inevitable onslaught in the dying minutes to get back on terms. They claimed for a penalty when Jim Binnie pulled down one of their attackers but referee Jim Breckenridge awarded a free-kick on the edge of the box. A borderline decision but probably the right one as it appeared the player's momentum had taken him inside the area.
Fawns and Co defended the free-kick and everything else that was thrown at them to clinch a welcome victory.

MOTM: Absolutely no failures on the day and all the players can be pleased with their contributions, including trialist Hardwick.  Grehan and stand-in skipper McColgan were especially good and got through a power of work in midfield but man of the match goes to Preston - solid at the back and athreat whenever he went forward.