AFC 1 HADLEY 1
AFC Dunstable 1 Hadley 1 (1-1 Half time)
Southern League Central Division 1
Creasey Park 23rd August 2025.
Attendance – 138
Match report by Richard Church.
The game started very evenly with both sides feeling the other out and nothing really happened in the first 10 minutes that was worthy of a mention. The visitors had the first effort of note. They won the first corner of the game with 11 on the clock and a towering header from their striker was nodded over the bar. Six minutes later, AFC had a decent opportunity when Tra produced some lovely footwork to make himself some space in front of goal but his shot went just wide of the post.
Hadley controlled the middle minutes of the half and were unlucky not to take the lead when a low down header flashed just wide on 26 minutes. Another opportunity a few minutes later saw the ball cut in from the left - Matt got down really well to make a fine save. The ODs had not really got it going at this stage and we looked to have gone behind with 10 minutes of the half left when Hadley put the ball in the net but it was adjudged offside. The visitors continued to press and forced another sharp save from Matt a minute before the break. With 45 on the clock, Hadley took the lead following some poor decision making and indecision in defence – the ball falling at the feet of Antonio Paone-Michael who could hardly miss. This seemed to spur AFC in to some much needed action and as a hopeful ball was played long down the left wing, Sean chased it and robbed the ball off the defender – Sean then cut inside to get a shot off which was deflected wide. From the resulting corner, Wits got up really well to power a header at goal but the keeper was able to push the ball over for another corner well in to added time at the end of the half. From what looked like a well-practised routine, George played the ball short to Kyle who took a touch to make an angle and then struck the ball with finesse high over the keeper and in to the far corner of the net for the equaliser – a superb goal from the birthday boy to make it 1-1 at half time.
The second half started a bit brighter for the home side with Sean creating an early chance with a well timed breakaway but he couldn’t get the ball under enough control to get a decent shot off. The good start petered out and slowly but surely Hadley started to control the game – they were much brighter and more dynamic and we weren’t helping ourselves by continually giving the ball away cheaply. With an hour on the clock Matt came rushing out to challenge for a 50/50 ball just outside his area – unfortunately the Hadley player got their slightly quicker and Matt ended up taking him out. Much holding of breath until we saw the colour of the card was yellow – a red would have been harsh but we’ve all see them given in those circumstances. Hadley had a great opportunity to retake the lead on 78 minutes following a breakaway – again Matt rushed out to shut the ball down and the Hadley player lobbed him but to our relief the ball bounced just wide.
The last 10 minutes became a succession of chances for Avto. On 82 he had two half opportunities in one move but both were blocked by desperate defenders. He then had another breakaway 2 minutes later but couldn’t get a shot away. On 88 Abel played a nice ball in to Avto but again his shot was blocked and cleared away for a corner. As we went in to added time yet another Avto shot was blocked – 5 decent opportunities for him in the space of 9 minutes – so unlucky not to get on the score sheet.
We thought we had won the game 3 minutes in to added when Tommy put the ball in the net but the flag went up for offside. So the points shared in a good competitive game played in very good spirit – a just result? Hadley would probably argue with some justification that they could and should have won but we’ll take the point that continues our unbeaten league campaign.
Man of the match (as decided by the AFC committee) was Avto.
Team line up (subs in brackets) ; Matt Bonsu, Joshua Clark-Anderson (Aaron Addy 63), Thomas Feyisitan (Akhsiashvili Avtandil (Avto) HT), George Joyce, Shawn Joseph, Mwita Mgoyo (Harry Riley 67), Tra Lucas (Maks Jarzabek 52), Tommy Blennerhasset, Sean Duodu (Abel Damoah-Kyeremeh 80), Tali Jallow, Kyle Brooks.
