We knew what this game would represent. When you face Mildean if you don’t bring your shield and sword as well as your heart then prepare to leave the field without the result you require.
It was clear from the warm up that either we were not mentally prepared for this game, as the intensity didn’t notify me we were up for a battle.
The game started quite slow through out own fault and Vista weren’t able to take control on the game how we might have hoped. Mildean were competitive both on the floor and in the air, and although we battled we couldn’t find clear openings. The creativity of our play was stifled by a resilient backline and a competitive midfield. Through sheer determination we eventually managed to breakthrough and create a few opportunities but bad finishing let us down. Ashley Josephs was up and down the line overlapping continually and unknown to everyone is ‘how we were unable to finish some of his crosses”.
Mildean were dangerous via their striker who created many opportunities on his own via clever footwork or running off the back of our defense and we were pretty fortunate that once when he did create a clear-cut opportunity, before rounding the keeper his shot was blocked on the line.
There wasn’t much more to report on the 1st half but the 2nd half really turned up a notch. The referees managed the game well but the battling increased on both sides and despite it being a slugfest there were very few arguable disputes until later on. Our strike force began to show more impetus and force problems but once again we couldn’t break the deadlock. The game changed when Andrew Thompson entered the field. He should have had a goal with what was his first touch but it wasn’t to be. A strike across goal narrowly trickled wide. He continued to create problems with his movement and was rewarded when his deception forced Mildean into an error in the box and Vista being rewarded a penalty. Omari Delgado blasted the resulting penalty home. The referees must have wanted to even the game up because as soon as Mildean went down the other end on an attack they were rewarded a penalty for a very soft decision. The linesman gave the decision despite being blindsided and we were very much aggrieved. Fortunately for us the penalty was saved greatly by Steve Hanley but we knew Mildean would push us too the limit.
Based on opportunities we should have been long gone but somehow we just couldn’t finish our chances.
After missing a series of chances via many different players it was inevitable what would happen towards the end. A few harmless opportunities and Vista possibly not taking the safe option resulted in us conceding a corner with one minute to go. Credit to Mildean as they never gave up but we will feel aggrieved this should and could have been a win that would have put us back into a competitive zone in the table. We’ve only lost one game so far which is an impressive feat but we’ve thrown away far too many points.
Goal
Omari Delgado
M.O.M
Ashley Josephs