rayners lane 1 afc 0

Rayners Lane 1 AFC Dunstable 0 (0-0 Half time)

Southern League Central Division 1

Tithe Farm Sports & Social Club, Saturday 18th October 2025.

Attendance –

Match report by Tony Barbato.

Going into this game both teams would have been eyeing this up as a must win game despite still being early in the season. The journey over to the Tythe Farm Centre in Harrow posed some traffic challenges but upon arrival it was difficult to not be impressed with the set up there including a large clubhouse and relatively new 3g astro pitch. We kind of knew however that today would be difficult as the news of Kyle Brook’s departure to Berkhamsted was made public. Kyle was therefore making his 101st and last appearance for AFC and with the blessing and thanks of everyone at the club. Throughout his time here he has been one of the most versatile and loyal players that we have seen certainly in recent years and he has always brought quality and desire to the team’s performances. This was recognised with him being the shoe-in for team captain over all of last season and throughout the start to this season. Kyle will be sorely missed but we wish him nothing but the very best as he makes the progression up to Step 3 football with his new club. To compound our misery, we also seem to be in a perpetual doom-loop of injuries resulting in constant but necessary line-up changes to the team, but this is football at any level but at some point this situation will resolve and result in some consistency of selection and hence performance.

Back to the game with AFC playing in red and taking the kick off for the first 15 minutes it was quite evident why both teams are positioned near the bottom of the table with little quality or composure on display with both teams continually ceding possession and failing to make any real progress. After 15 minutes Rayners Lane’s right sided winger was up-ended and a free-kick was rightly awarded just outside the area. The resultant effort at goal was powerful but fortunately just wide but not a bad effort. AFC were now starting to initiate some more positive forward play resulting in some good interchanges down the right from Tommy, Tally and an overlapping Aaron resulting in the ball being slipped through to the right back who’s first time effort was well saved by the home keeper. The subsequent corner cleared the area and found Gabriel at the back post who despite taking the ball down well blasted his effort over the goal from one yard out when in fairness it would have easier to score – at least in my mind!

For the next few minutes AFC began to play some more ball retentive football with Ikey making a good run down the left but had his shirt pulled resulting in a free kick that Tally beat the wall with but not the keeper. However, all was not plain sailing as Rayner’s Lane looked to be more physically dominant in midfield and this enabled their right winger again to breeze through our defence and swing in a decent first time cross straight to their centre forward who’s diving header flashed past the far post – this was probably the best move of the game after some 29 minutes. However, we kept pushing and on 33 minutes Ben Lynch hoisted in a long throw into their box that fell to Brooksy who saw his shot well blocked by their keeper at 1 yard out with the balling falling to Blennerhasset who also had a 1 yard shot blocked by the keeper. Great goal keeping, but these are the chances that you get punished for missing. Just after this Ikey also fashioned a good shooting opportunity on the edge of the box with a nice turn but the shot albeit powerful was just wide of the goal. Shortly thereafter the whistle blew for half time at 0-0 which was a fair reflection of a low quality first half.

The 2nd half started in the same vein with possession being needlessly squandered at the AFC back when trying to invite and beat the press but fortunately Bonsu was on hand to make 2 fine saves to keep the ball out. However, on 58 minutes after giving the ball away again in similar circumstances Rayners Lane’s grateful centre forward was handed a literal open goal and he did not disappoint to put them 1-0 up. Fair play to our opponents as they had upped their pressing on our defensive line and were causing panic with their energy and commitment. On 63 minutes Aaron and Gabriel were replaced with Max and Avto as we sought to change the balance of the team and go for an equaliser and this was supplanted on 67 with Lynch being replaced by Abel and it looks like Lynch has now joined the injury club at AFC with a recurrence of the knee injury that he picked up in pre-season.

The changes did have the effect of pushing the team up with Max in particular looking to spray the ball forward resulting in Blennerhasset on 71 minutes charging into space down the right and squaring well into Ikey who did well to hold up 2 defenders, turn and poke a shot into the corner that their keeper only just held onto. 4 minutes later Blennerhasset was replaced by Bruce who instantly had a couple of half decent shots at goal after some good attacking play by Avto. The next 15 minutes saw us huff and puff a lot but inevitably we are then caught on the counterattack with only Matty Bonsu standing firm and making 2 fines saves from a direct shot and then at the feet of their in-rushing forward.

Ultimately despite our best efforts in going forward to try to rescue something out of the game we were unfortunately unable to do so and as the whistle sounded the Rayners Lane players celebrated noisily and who can blame them after an extremely significant 3 points. AFC looked despondent as they knew that the points were more lost than won by our opponents but that is to take nothing away from them. We thank the officials of Rayners Lane for making us so welcome and we look forward to meeting them again at Creasey Park late in the season.

Man of the Match Matty Bonsu

AFC Team

Bonsu, Aaron, Carmichael, Wits, Gabriel, Lynch, Ikey, Tali, Tommy, George, Brooks

Subs (all came on)

Max, Avto, Abel, Bruce, Tyrone