Match Details
Date: Saturday 01 April 2017
Result: 1-2 (lost)
Starting XI – Harry Thomas, Sean Jones, Paul Griffiths (c), Jack Richards, Nathan Williams, Dion Gibbins, Ben Allen, Daniel Cox, Nic Jones, Alex Williams, Andrew Jones
Substitutes – Darnell Prescott, Kien Morris
Goalscorer(s):
Andrew Jones
MOM: Dion Gibbins
With no reserve team fixture it was all focus on our first team who welcomed Saltney Town to the Muga in the league. The weather wasn’t great and it had been raining hard all morning which meant the pitch was heavy so we knew it would be a battle.
In terms of the first half it was very even and both sides battled hard to get the upper hand in the game but it was the Albion who drew first blood when a quick counter attack resulted in Andrew Jones reacting quickest to bundle in from close range with his head. Saltney Town pushed for a leveller before the break but the Albion defence were resilient and defended excellently in the first 45 minutes, Harry Thomas made a couple important saves.
For the first 15 minutes of the second half it was very much like the first half with both teams trying to gain the upper hand. However, it was around the hour mark when a couple of major incidents occurred which changed the entire complexion of the game. Unfortunately for our skipper Paul Muncher Griffiths he was on the receiving end of a very high late tackle which on initial thought many feared it was a leg break. Whilst Munch lay on the floor receiving lengthy treatment tempers were flaring amongst his team mates and the offender and it led to a confrontation between Nic Jones and a another Saltney player which resulted in Nic being given his marching orders. Munch was no longer able to continue and to everyone’s disbelief the Saltney player responsible for the tackle was surprisingly only shown a yellow, he was substituted almost immediately! As you can imagine two key players down the lads were now up against it and knew that to hold on to the 1-0 lead it would be a very big ask. The lads were holding on but on around the 80th minute Saltney Town found their equaliser, the 10 men had been unlocked. Despite the best efforts from the lads Saltney did go on to find a late winner to seal all three points. Despite the loss this game will be remembered for a disgustingly high tackle that went unpunished, the consequences could have been much worse.
We would like to thank all the supporters who braved the miserable weather and come to support the team. We would also like to thank Ian and Trudie Davies for their sponsorship.
