ac milanda afc

THE dreaded vote of confidence must be on the cards for Alan McMillan after Milanda suffered their sixth straight league defeat. Fortunately for the manager, the club has no chairman to back him publicly after the worst set of results in Milanda's history.

It is often said that teams struggling at the foot of a table never get a break but in reality teams make their own luck and no one wants to read another sob story. Milanda have struggled against Kilpatrick even in good times so no eyebrows will be raised at the scoreline. In fact, Milanda have played much worse against them in the past and suffered heavier defeats but the end result is still no points on the board and that can't go on much longer or relegation will become inevitable.
This wasn't Milanda's worst performance of the season by any means. The team gave Kilpatrick a good game and the third goal late on provided a scoreline that could be described as a little harsh.

However, the passing must improve. If the ball is given away cheaply, teams will hurt you, especially the younger ones whose passing and movement is always a problem for, shall we say, the more mature Milanda. Decision making is also a big part of football and too often we take the wrong option, shooting when a pass is on or, worse, passing the buck when there is an opportunity to hurt the opposition by getting into their box. That's where penalties are won by the bold and where most of Milanda's goals are scored given that long-ranging shooting is rarely attempted.

The first goal was a self-inflicted blow. A sloppy pass by Paul Ross gifted possession to Kilpatrick and they mounted an attack that produced a shot off the bar and a good finish from the rebound. That came after 18 minutes at a time when Milanda were marginally the better side. Mark Russell had seen a shot saved after being played in by a precision Kevin Grehan pass, Martin Coyle had fired wide from a Brian Traynor cross and Coyle had also fired a free-kick against the defensive wall. But putting the ball in the net is what matters. They did it, we didn't.

Kilpatrick took a lift from the goal and only a fantstic double save by Craig Fawns stopped them doubling their advantage before the break.

Milanda could not be faulted for effort, though, and their start to the second half was good. The equaliser came in the 52nd minute when good play by Grehan saw him fire the ball across from the byeline for Gerry Evans to knock the ball home from point-blank range.

Further promising attacks came to nothing and Kilpatrick made it 2-1 in the 65th minute when a clearance by Ross hit team-mate Scott Preston and sat up nicly for the home player to score with an excellent strike into the top corner. Five minutes from time they hit a tiring Milanda team on the counter-attack with another good goal. Coyle almost netted a consolation with a powerful low shot but the keeper tipped it on to the post and behind for a fruitless corner.

A late sending-off saw Kilpatrick finish with 10 men but there was not enough time for Milanda to try to take advantage.

MOTM: Despite the result, there were some good individual performances, the pick of them by Mark Russell. Just back after an injury lay-off, he gave the team better balance on the left.