AFC 1 beaconsfield 1
AFC Dunstable 1 Beaconsfield Town 1 (1-0 Half time)
Southern League Central Division 1
Creasey Park Saturday 13th September 2025.
Attendance – 76
Match report by Richard Church.
A very hard fought match in difficult conditions – lots of rain and wind were not helpful to either side. Shared points was probably a fair result.
AFC started with really good ambition and took the game to the visitors right from the first whistle. The first effort of note was a shot from Tali with 3 minutes gone but it was rather tame and straight at the thankful keeper. AFC kept their attacking heads on and after a couple more half chances Tali let rip a shot on 10 minutes which was parried by the goalkeeper straight in front of the onrushing Timothy who knocked the ball straight back past him to put us 1-0 up – his second goal for the club in successive appearances. 12 minutes later we should have doubled our lead following great work from Avto down the right wing. As he ran in to the box he hit a shot from an acute angle allowing the keeper to make a relatively comfortable save.
Beaconsfield came in to the game after that and for the next 10 minutes or so they dominated the game as they went all out for the equaliser. Matt made a few decent saves – one in particular when he just got his foot to what looked a certain goal was particularly impressive. The visitors also had a shot deflected over the bar and Harry headed off the line directly from a corner that completely deceived Matt as he jumped to take the ball and it went over him.
The final 10 minutes of the half saw AFC take control of the game and we were unfortunate not to add to the score. Avto had a shot following a decent build up but it was once again straight at the keeper. George put a fine ball in to box just after that but it was just too high for Harry – he got his head to it but he headed over. Tommy had an opportunity with a lovely first time shot after George played the ball to him but the keeper pulled off a very decent save. Timothy had our final effort of the half following a good build up but his shot was blocked and bounced away to safety. In added time Beaconsfield could and should have scored when they had 3 opportunities to score in one move – the first was blocked, the second saved and the third blasted over the bar.
The second half started in the same fashion with both sides trading blows. Just after the restart Avto played a superb ball to Tommy but his shot from the angle went just over. Beaconsfield nearly scored from a spectacular scissor kick but the ball went just wide. Following a quick breakaway Avto tried desperately to get a decent shot off but just couldn’t get the ball under enough control – as it was cleared it went straight to Tali who smacked the ball goalwards but a defender managed to block it and it was then cleared away. A couple more really good chances followed – an excellent shot from Kyle was just tipped round the post by the keeper and Avto had a shot that went just wide – would we rue the missed chances?
It was certainly not all AFC – The visitors continued to threaten and create chances of their own and they deservedly equalised 6 minutes from time when a lovely ball was played in from the right and a towering header from big Manu Oke-William gave Matt no chance as it settled in the back of our net. As we went in to the final stages Beaconsfield were definitely on top but some resolute defending by the AFC back line kept them out.
Another worrying injury to Harry who had to be carried off just before time – hopefully not too serious, but to end on a positive note it was nice to see Ben Lynch back in action having been out since an injury picked up in pre-season.
Man of the match (as decided by the AFC committee) was Shawn Joseph.
Team line up (subs in brackets) ; Matt Bonsu, Aaron Addy (Ben Lynch 67), Carmichael Uchenna, Tali Jallow, Harry Riley (Eric Frunza 87), Shawn Joseph, Akhsiashvili “Avto” Avtandil, (Abel Damoah-Kyeremeh 78), Timothy Okwusogu, Tommy Blennerhasset (Joel Paintsil 67), George Joyce (Maks Jarzabek 78), Kyle Brooks.
