ac milanda afc

MILANDA had the misfortune to create some kind of club record by making it two cup quarter-final exits on the trot.
However, the performance in this William Drummond Trophy clash was far superior to the one the previous Saturday when they lost out in the the GDSML Cup against Bellahouston. Milanda gave as good as they got for most of the game and at 1-1 it looked as if the least they would get was a penalty shoot-out.

However, a defensive mistake gifted Islay their second goal and they added a third late on when Milanda had the majority of their outfield players up the field trying to equalise for a second time.

Despite having just 11 fully fit players, Milanda made a promising start and only a good save from the Islay keeper stopped Martin Johnstone opening the scoring. Johnstone broke clear again and beat the keeper with his next shot but this time the ball bounced back off his right-hand post. Islay created some good openings of their own and Chris Preston showed no signs of rustiness with a couple of excellent saves.

However, he was later beaten by a shot from inside the box and Islay held the advantage until half-time.
Milanda had an escape early in the second half when a slick move by Islay ended with a shot that beat keeper Preston but was cleared off the line by Lee Colvin.

The visitors then got back on level terms in the 55th minute when a long pass from left-back Brian Traynor found Martin Coyle and he showed dogged resistance under pressure from two defenders to lay the ball off for Johnstone who steadied himself before thumping the ball into the net.

The turning point came eight minutes later when Scott Grant attempted an over ambitious headed passback and one of the Islay forwards nipped in to nod the ball past the helpless Preston. You could sense the frustration in the Milanda ranks and this was perhaps a factor in Scott Preston being sent off following an altercation with one of the Islay players.
With only 10 men it was an uphill battle but Milanda kept battling and Johnstone and Craig Fawns, out of goal and playing in his old midfield role, both came agonisingly close to making it 2-2.

But when your luck is out it's really out and Islay made it 3-1 at the death despite the fact the scorer clearly handled the ball before netting.

MOTM: With no subs, the whole team had to work hard for 90 minutes against the always physical Islay. No failures on the day but the front two probably did that little bit more and on this occasion and scorer Martin Johnstone just pips partner Martin Coyle for the award.