ac milanda afc

THREE weeks of inactivity did Milanda no favours as they slumped to another league defeat at Stepford. The performance was reasonable for the first half-hour, during which time they were gifted the lead, but Glasgow Athletic began to dominate towards the end of the first half and were far superior for most of the second.

The signs were promising early on. Mark Russell volleyed a Gerry Evans cross over early on and Martin Coyle failed to hit the target with two good chances before a mistake in defence allowed Milanda to break the deadlock. One of the Athletic defenders attempted a passback that, to put it kindly, was ambitious and Martin Johnstone pounced to round the stranded keeper and knock the ball home. Johnstone then forced a good save from the keeper following a nice flick by Coyle.

But Milanda were making poor use of possession and paid for it in the 32nd minute when Athletic equalised from one of their quick counter-attacks. However, Milanda could still have had their noses in front at the break if Evans had managed to get more power on his header from Johnstone's cross.

A double save at the start of the second half denied Milanda the lead. Marc McColgan's free-kick was perfect for Johnstone whose header was parried by the keeper. Evans followed up and looked certain to score but again the Athletic No.1 kept the ball out with a point-blank save.

The Athletic No.9 shot their second after 57 minutes when he should have been closed down. If the defending was slack there it was worse eight minutes later. Another counter-attack following a Milanda corner saw Jim Binnie left to cope with Athletic's quickest player and a clumsy challenge resulted in referee George Dunbar producing the inevitable red card for a last-man foul. Athletic went 3-1 up on their 10-man opponents when a header caught out Craig Fawns at his near post.

The visitors had the game sewn up and could even afford to waste a penalty opportunity following a foul by Lee Colvin. Fawns showed again he has the knack when it comes to spot-kicks by parrying the shot and then watching the rebound being blasted over the bar. It didn't matter, though, because Athletic scored a fourth in the last minute.
A bad day for Milanda who can't afford many more if they want to stay in the division.

MOTM: Martin Johnstone worked tirelessly, scored a goal and was head and shoulders above the rest.