AFC 1 BARTON ROVERS 3
AFC Dunstable 1 Barton Rovers 3 (0-3 Half time)
Southern League Central Division 1
Creasey Park, Saturday 35th October 2025.
Attendance – 110
Match report by Richard Church using Steve Savva twitter posts.
A local derby between two clubs barely 6 miles apart saw the visitors triumph in a very one sided first half but a relatively decent second half for the hosts.
Barton took the lead with 2 minutes gone. A free kick from just outside the box was played in and AFC failed to clear and as the ball fell to Albie Hall, he slotted it in to the bottom right hand corner. Four minutes later and another free kick was floated in to the area and Rovers number eight, Alfie Warman capitalised on poor defensive work to sweep the ball home and put the visitors 2-0 up. AFC struggled to get any sort of grip on the game with Barton well in control for the next portion of the game. Another opportunity for Barton produced a good save from Matt in the home goal to put the ball out for a corner which fortunately came to nothing.
AFC then had some decent approach play out on the left wing but Rovers got back and defended well to snuff out the danger. A further chance for Barton with another fine save as Matt gets down and makes a great save to push the ball away for another corner – all Barton Rovers pressure and no surprise when following another corner on 32 minutes, Albie Hall heads his second goal to put the visitors in to a commanding lead. Tactical substitution just before half time sees Maks replaced by Abel.
A change of keeper required at half time as Matt unable to continue with Ben Lynch (normally a defender!) taking the gloves for the ODs. With 57 on the clock a good move from AFC with Tali playing a nice ball out to Tommy who just shoots wide of the left hand upright. 59 gone and Tyrone replaces Bruce. Just after the hour an opportunity for Albie Hall to complete his hat trick but this time he heads wide of the goal.
Tyrone gave AFC some hope with 67 gone when he whipped the ball in to the top corner to reduce the deficit to 3-1 – could this be the comeback? AFC continued to press but could not take their chances particularly one free kick in a dangerous position but it eventually came to nothing. With 75 gone, Ben Lynch pulled off a worldy save from a 25 yard shot that he pushed away for a corner with impressive technique.
The game seemed to fizzle out in the last 15 minutes with Barton having more than achieved what they came for and fully deserved to take the points home with them. A valiant second half effort from AFC but the damage was done in the first half. Well done to Barton Rovers.
Man of the match (as decided by the AFC committee) was Tali.
Team line up; Matt Bonsu, Bruce Nsang, Carmichael Uchenna, Mwita Mgoyo, Shawn Joseph, Gabriel Adelowo, Ike Okwusogu, Tali Jallow, Tommy Blennerhasset, George Joyce, Maks Jarzabek.
Subs; Tyrone Shiham, Ben Lynch, Abel Kyeremeh, Avto Akhsiashvili, Aaron Addy
