LATE GOAL EXTENDS OUR WINNING RUN TO FOUR GAMES

We will soon be coming up to the first anniversary of when the Club decided to change direction by bringing in youngsters. For many of us former players it was like going back to our roots because when the Club was formed in the late 1950’s players had to be under 21 even though we were competing in an adult league.

Ryan Sturges and his coaching team have done a superb job in attracting young players from near by senior clubs and the latest arrangement has seen us develop links with MK Dons with the collaboration paying instant results with loanee Joel Anker scoring the winning goal very late in the game. Two officials from the League Division 1 side certainly enjoyed the moment in the stand.

Our team sheet included three MK Dons U18 Academy players - with Charlie Waller and Tommy Blennerhassett in the starting line up as well as Joel Anker who came on as sub in the 62nd minute to achieve the distinction of scoring on his debut.

Oscar Frost was called into action after only 4 minutes, making a great save after an opposition forward had got through down the inside left channel but generally it was a game of few clear cut chances and whilst both teams had their moments the keepers were not overly troubled.

New signing Charlie Waller, who is the captain of MK Dons U18 team, settled in well at left back and looks a real find and Tommy Blennerhassett was lively up front and show great skills to loft a pass to Ethan Gouding in the box who then forced the keeper to save his shot at the near post. From the resulting corner Tommy Blennerhassett saw his shot blocked by a defender.

Eli Hearn had another terrific game and produced a goal saving tackle to prevent the dangerous Danny Webb from probably scoring in the 36th minute. We probably shaded the first half but it was still scoreless at the break. HT Score 0-0.

The opposition upped their game after the break with former Athletic favourite Luke Dunstan, who made 248 appearances for the club over a 6 year period from 20014 to 2020, prominent in many of his team’s moves. But we defended well and gave Oscar Frost plenty of protection. Dunstable’s best chance fell to Danny Webb from a corner mid way through the second half but his header was tipped away by Oscar Frost. Earlier we had our own chance from a corner but Harrison Cornick could not get his header on target.

The game looked destined for a 0-0 draw until the clock showed 2 minutes had been played into added time at the end of the game when a hopeful lofted ball from Eli Hearn was not effectively dealt with by our opponents defence. Frankie Hercules did well to seize on the loose ball and then with great vision back heel it to Joel Anker who placed his left foot shot into the corner of the net. It was a fine finish especially from an inexperienced 17 year old and a moment he will remember for a long time. FT Score 1-0.

This was a tight competitive game and we can take a lot of credit for collecting all 3 points from a team that had lost just one league game this season. Our young players have undoubted got great technical skills but have also shown particularly in recent games that they can compete on physical terms with the best in the league.

That was the 3rd time we have met Dunstable Town this season with honours shared with one win each and a draw. We will meet again in the next round of the FA Vase at Creasey Park with the game likely to take place on Sunday 4 December because their fellow ground sharers AFC Dunstable are at home on the Saturday.

We have now won 4 games on the trot and have kept 2 clean sheets which is encouraging because we have only kept 4 clean sheets all season. This was a team effort but our defenders were superb and they deserve a mention, so well done to keeper Oscar Frost and the back four of Eli Hearn, Harrison Cornick, Lenny Armstrong and Charlie Waller.

This win has moved us up 2 places to 6th in the table but we have played far more games than the other teams around us. We have another tough week coming up with a trip on Tuesday night to Colney Heath, where we don’t have a great record, then on Saturday we travel to Leighton Town who are 3rd in the table and would be many people’s favourite for the title.

Finally we done to the 8 Dunstable Town supporters who walked from Creasey Park to the Grass Roots Stadium, a distance of 10.3 miles, for charity. Lets hope they raised a lot of money for some very good causes.

Team: O Frost, E Hearn, C Waller, L Armstrong, H Cornick, F Hercules, E Goulding (J Anker 62), G Carbery (Capt), H Shepherd (G Deer 89), T Blennerhasse (A Mannion 90+4), G Oppong (H Mead 80). Subs not use: A Sawyer.

Goal: Joel Anker (90+2)

Crowd: 235