In a Roundabout Way

Today's fixture at Dunstable (first of back-to-back matches against this team) saw us making one of the longest journeys of this year's away campaign. The trip was made more challenging by the apparent overnight disappearance of an ancient roundabout near the destination. Google said it was there, but there it wasn't, and pretty much everyone was wrongfooted.

Even the manager wasn't pitchside until 10:15, and last-to-arrive Sam C was only in situ moments before kick-off. The boys who arrived earlier were, of course, involved in useful pre-match exercises, except when they were playing "drop-kick the Evian" or climbing trees.

Nevertheless, by 10:30 we had 14 players (Romao unwell), 2 coaches and a linesman. Last week's emergency linesman, Boz, was re-assigned to reconnaissance duties behind enemy lines in the home crowd.

We kicked off playing up the noticeable but manageable slope. The pitch appeared small by comparison with last week's vast expanse, and the lack of a gale-force wind was most pleasant.

If Brickhill were at all put off by the haphazard start, then it was not apparent as we played good open football and were rewarded early on when Dominic got the ball over the line inside 2 minutes - Fred & Elijah also getting an attempt on target in the move.

Luke & Greg were also in a lot of the action upfront. We did not appear to be disadvantaged at all by playing uphill. At the back, Cameron was making some key interceptions. Sam H was back in the starting line-up and using his head wisely.

However, despite the good possession, the 2nd goal was elusive and we nearly paid for it as Dunstable broke clear and fired a shot decisively past our defence. Fortunately the post was equally decisive in preventing an equalizer.

We moved forward again and, a few minutes later, we did find the second goal when Greg and Fred combined well.

"There's still hope" cried the opposition captain. No kidding we thought - you should have seen us last week ....

And Dunstable hopes were still well afloat at Half Time: 2 - 0 it remained.

This scoreline wasn't seriously threatened until well into the second half. Once again, Brickhill created plenty of good moves - Ewan apparently in all of them. Niall was also in really good form in a creative/defensive role.

Now, Dunstable found their hope. After putting Harry to the test at close range, they converted the rebound. With a little less than 15 minutes to go, they visibly and audibly upped their game. They were now clearly willing to fight for a result.

Their spirit wasn't diminished when we restored our 2-goal margin: Angus started the move and found Ewan. Fred & Dominic then sandwiched the keeper on the edge of his box. When the ball escaped, Dominic gave it enough of a touch to take it across the line.

With the increased tempo from Dunstable, however, it wasn't clear that this would be enough of a lead. Harry parried one excellent free-kick and still another dead-ball shot came close to finding the corner. The home side were making repeated runs into our box.

With a minute left of regular time, they reduced the deficit to a single goal again from an effective cross.

Once again, it was tough on the supporters as the clock ticked down. Probably we could have been more effective at keeping the ball in this crucial phase, but we did enough to prevent any late equalizer.

In the end, the three points were safe and we did what we needed to do. Hopefully we can make a more straightforward job of it next week at home.

DUNSTABLE YOUTH 2 - 3 BRICKHILL WANDERERS
Dominic (2, 53), Fred (26)