Crediton 4 - 2 Alphington 9th February 2008

In a game where the Alphas should surely have taken 3 points, nothing could be further from the truth. They started very well in the first 5 minutes or so, knocking the ball around well with Jason Warren hitting the ball long from mid-field for Ryan Leverton, who pushed the ball onto the feet of Lawrence Khoo who, on a good day, would have finished the move easily. Around the 9 minute mark Kyrton went ahead after some poor defending by the Alphas allowed a free header very much against the run of play. The game continued in a very scrappy fashion until just before the half hour mark when Stuart Smith equalised after a great corner kick by Gary Hayes (which he continually did throughout the game) was somehow bundled over the line. The Alphas continued to make headway but were consistent in not being able to finish. Just before the half-time whistle Crediton took the lead again with a carbon copy of the first goal that was helped by a goalkeeping error.

The second half started with the Alphas looking like they had had lead weights put in their boots at half-time, whilst the Crediton boys clearly had their Nike wings on! Another great corner from Hayes eventually resulted in Ryan Leverton equalising. The play began to get very frustrated and Crediton's number 10, Blake, who was already on a yellow card for an earlier misdemeanour should have walked when he clearly kicked the ball out of play to waste time. However, not only was he left on the field but he carried on to make the score 3-2 with a tremendous strike for somebody who should have been sitting in the changing rooms. The frustrations were clearly evident throughout both sides with the referring inconsistencies but Crediton managed to rise above it to score their fourth goal a couple of minutes from time, to give them a well deserved victory.


Eds man of the Match: Gary Hayes - for constant battling and consistent quality on crosses

All first team reports are written by and are the sole view of Russ Murch, they are in no way endorsed by Alphington AFC