Match Report - 21st April 2007

What looked like a comfortable win for Headstone turned into a real nail biter as Harlington battled back early in the second half and did enough to have earned them a point. But Headstone defended resolutely and held on to win three valuable points.

With six games still to play, Headstone face five matches in the next three weekends starting with this Saturday’s encounter. The conditions were great, a sunny, warm morning with the pitch in excellent shape.

Headstone came into the match with virtually the same team who had beaten Hendon 3-0 win a couple of weeks ago. Things looked good for them when Brett Swinton-Bland gave them the lead in the sixth minute. The goal was superbly taken and came out of nothing. Brett chased after a long ball over the top of the Harlington defence and looked to have little hope of winning it. But the defenders hesitated and Brett’s persistence won him the ball which he then shot powerfully past the keeper.

The game was quite an even looking contest. Headstone made some neat combinations moving the ball around the midfield quite well. But struggled to find the opportunity to threaten the Harlington goal. Harlington won more of the fifty fifty balls, were strong in the challenge and created more chances but put them wide and Daniel Lynch coped well with the chances he had to deal with. Headstone’s back four looked strong, challenged well and cleared their lines confidently.

Then with two goals in two minutes Headstone looked to have sealed the points. Conor McBreen made it 2-0 with a tremendous finish. The goal was set up first by Russell Butlin whose long clearance caught out the Harlington defence and set Brett on the chase. Brett’s speed won him the ball and he hit a first time cross despite the fact that there was no-one in the penalty area. But Conor saw his chance, arrived late in the box, chased after the ball and beat the keeper to it. With two touches he brought the ball down and then shot past the keeper into the corner.

A minute later and Brett scored again. The ball over the top which had caused the Harlington defenders problems caught them out again. This time Daniel was the provider with a long clearance and Brett latched onto it and tucked it home.

Headstone hoped to push on from this in the second half but Harlington turned the game round with two goals early in the second half. From the start of the half they put Headstone under pressure and forced the ball back around their penalty area. Then in the 42nd and 44th minutes they broke back with two well taken goals and suddenly Harlington had the momentum. Harlington’s first came when they broke quickly from a goal kick and their attacker got between Russell Butlin and Daniel and tucked it home. Then they had an attack down the left which they quickly switched to the right putting pressure on Ciaran McDougall and George Moriarty. The ball was knocked back across the goal and their attacker shot past Daniel into the corner. 3-2 and game on.

For a while Headstone were under a lot of pressure and it didn’t seem likely that they could hang on. But the team showed a lot of character not just to hold on but to push out and create further chances to increase their lead. Kyle Giles-Brown, who had another good game on the right, Brett and Thomas all went close.

But Harlington went closer to scoring. Firstly from a corner they sent the ball right across the goal and Headstone watched it. Just a small touch and it would have been 3-3. Later they produced a powerful shot that beat Daniel but Ciaran was perfectly placed to save the day with a fantastic, spectacular header off the line.

Headstone used their subs this half. Tom Wrigley taking over at right back from Luis Meneses Zerpa who switched to midfield with Conor coming off. Then Jordan Wright swapped with Francis Nkhoma and Fed Jaramillo replaced Kyle.

There was a lot of added time for injuries which made things tense near the end as Harlington pushed for the equaliser but Headstone held on to win an excellent, competitive match played in a great spirit.

Not easy to choose a man of the match as there were good performances all round, but Brett’s two well taken goals and the one he set up for Conor edged the trophy to him.