Match Reports

Bedfordshire Senior Trophy.
1st Round.
6th November 2004.
AFC Dunstable 4 Kent Athletic 4 (AET)
Kent Athletic win 6-5 on pens.

Plenty of goals littered this cup game but our visitors progressed to the 2nd Round were they will face Biggleswade United.
We took the lead on 16 minutes when a superb 20 yard strike by Nick Allen found the top corner.
All our good work was undone though, as John Foster in our goal tried to be too clever when attempting to clear his lines and was robbed by Danny Sunderland who slotted home 6 minutes later.
Kents came out strong after the break and took the lead.
We then won a dubious penalty when only the referee saw a push on Ikeme Ojulah. Simon King cooly struck home the pen. When ex OD Richard Priestley gave Kents a 3-2 lead with only minutes remaining it seemed it was all over. Not so, as this time Kents keeper Paul Yeomans failed to hold a Simon King cross and Ojulah poked home the equaliser.
Now time for extra time. Again Yeomans failed to control a back pass and Gary Ellerton gave us the lead.More fun was to follow as Foster failed to hold a cross and Kents forced home to make it 4-4.
Now penalties. Our scorers were, Paul Randall, Simon King, Lee Ewins, James Siddons and Gary Ellerton. Culprits were Ikeme Ojulah & Nick Allen whose day started so good.

Spartan South Midlands Division Two.
November 13th.
AFC Dunstable 2 Totternhoe 2.

This Division Two clash against our near neighbours Totternhoe ended all even.
Totternhoe, who are having their best season for sometime, did have to hang on for the first 20 minutes as Ryan Powell, Aaron Smith and Simon King all were thwarted by Gary Duncan in the Totternhoe goal.
Against the run of play Totts took the lead on 27 minutes when a flowing move ended with James McCarthy slotting home. We still had the best of the possession for the rest of the half but had to be on our guard against the counter attack with McCarthy, Gary Simpson & Andrew Bowles looking dangerous.
The 2nd half started as much as the 1st ended and we finally drew level when a sharp turn and shot in the box by Aaron Smith put us level on the hour. Poor defending though let in Andrew Bowles within a minute to give Totternhoe the lead as he rounded debutant Steve Watts in our goal.
Once again we had to come from behind and Smith was the hero to hit the equaliser with 16 minutes remaining.
Now the game was there for the taking and either Sam Clarke for Totternhoe or Daniel Sheehan for us could have wrapped it up.
Manager Dermot Butler said after the game "if only we could kill of teams with all the pressure we exert"
That is now 7 drawn games in the league and a tough trip to Kings Langley next Saturday awaits us.

Spartan South Midlands Division Two.
November 20th 2004.
Kings Langley 2 AFC Dunstable 2.

Yet another drawn game which we should have won on chances squandered.
The starting line up was once again greatly changed. Steve Watts in goal kept his place as John Foster was still carrying an injury.We welcomed back Tony Burgess from Dunstable Town but Gary Ellerton once again fell over his puppy dog and strained his back.(Or was he off to MK for Xmas shopping).
Langley started the game the stronger and took the lead on 23 minutes. Their forward was left unmarked in the 6 yard box to tap home. As usual we do not get going until we concede the 1st goal. We now started to inflict intense pressure on our hosts goal but all we had to show was a well worked move which resulted in Ikeme Ojulah hitting home on 31 minutes. More chances came and went with Ojulah & Ryan Powell the main culprits.
The opening exchanges were much the same as the 1st and it seemed only a matter of time before we took the lead. Disater struck though with 81 minutes on the clock. Giving the ball away up front, Kings Langley's Shaun Uallely broke away and his determination was rewarded with a fine individual goal.
We were now staring defeat at close range only for sub Steve Howarth to strike an unstopable 25 yarder into the top corner on 89 minutes to salvage another draw.
This Saturday we entertain Premier Division outfit Royston Town in the Challenge Trophy 3rd round.The kick off is an early one at 1.30pm.

Spartan South Midlands Challenge Trophy 3rd Round.
November 27th 2004.
AFC Dunstable 2 Royston Town 4 (AET)

Premier Division outfit Royston Town scrapped through by the skin of their teeth to reach the last 8 of this competition.
The day did not start the best though as they took the lead after only 30 seconds when Joff Dobson scored. It was 2 after 24 minutes and a thrashing seemed to be on the cards.
We held out until half time and when we got a piece of luck with a dubious penalty, Simon King slotted home on 51 minutes. We now changed into a different team and completely dominated our opponents and when Aaron Smith crossed for Ikeme Ojulah to head home on 71 minutes, a shock was on the cards. We pushed & pushed but could not get the winner in normal time.
Extra time produced a stroke of luck for Royston though, when Steve Watts in our goal and defender Tony Burgess's lack of communication let in Mark Saunders to scramble home an undeserved goal. Still we pinned back our Premier Division opponents but with no success and pushing up left us vunerable to ther counter attack and in the dying seconds Craig Hammond took full advantage.
Royston knew they had got away with murder and paid us a fine compliment on our performance after the game.

Spartan South Midlands Division Two.
December 11th 2004.
AFC Dunstable 1 Caddington 3.

From one extreme to another was the story of our hapless performance against bottom of the table Caddington.
After our great effort 2 weeks ago versus Premier Division Royston Town, we thought we just had to turn up this week to secure the points.
All started brightly as our domination was rewarded when Tony Burgess struck a fine drive to give us the lead on 21 minutes. That is were our game ended as we conceded two scrappy goals just before the break.
We never really got going in the 2nd half as we huffed and puffed to pull back a goal. Caddington then caught us on the break to secure the win. Fair play to Caddington as they defended superbly, as we did owe them a favour after their 2-1 win over Winslow United last season which all but handed us the title.
A big shock came out of Langford as they could not raise a reserve team. It is the 2nd time in 4 weeks that the reserves have been handed the points.

Bedfordshire County Reserve League Cup.
February 9th 2005.
Bedford Town Res 1 AFC Dunstable Res 2.

The reserves pulled off the shock of the round, to knock out 2nd in the league Bedford Town Reserves and progress to the semi final, to set up a clash with local rivals Brache Sparta.
We were under no illusions that Bedford Town were firm favourites to secure a semi final berth, but a great performance and a far share of good fortune saw us through.
The 1st piece of good fortune happened on 16 minutes, when a speculative hump up field from Peter Hallam, caught Town's keeper off his line and sailed into the top corner.
We did match our illustrous opponents for the rest of the half, but conceded right on the stroke of half time.
An onslaught was now on the cards and it did come.Bedford did win a lucky penalty on 55 minutes but it was blazed over the bar.Town's number 9 then decided to miss 3 open goals before Darrell Freeman hit the winner with 12 minutes remaining.