Milton United 2-0 Abingdon United

Firstly I would like to start by thanking everyone that attended the game against Abingdon United under the lights on a Friday night down at the Heights. I know us as management team and a group of players, look forward to a Friday evening game and that was topped off with a great turn out of just over 300 people and a fantastic performance from the boys. A brilliant evening for the football club and a great advert for local non league football.

Leading into the game, we came off the back of a disappointing result away against Pershore Town on the bank holiday Monday. Credit to Pershore, they were the better team on the day and thoroughly deserved the victory, however I can’t help but think if things would’ve been different had we had two weeks to prepare like them. We look forward to meeting them again down the Heights. After our first defeat, the management team were expecting nothing less than a positive reaction to get ourselves back to winnings ways.

Still without Mikey McKirnan who was serving the last game of his ban and without a Goalkeeper due to unavailability, Christian made his debut for the football club, which came much sooner than I’m sure he anticipated! We also made the decision to bring Conor Harris back into the starting lineup for the first time in just under a year. A fantastic achievement for himself after all the hard work he has done to recover from a broken leg and I’m sure every person involved with Milton United, would’ve been delighted to see him starting.

I don’t think we started the game very well and Abingdon put us under great pressure from the first whistle, however we grew into the game and our quality started to show. I’m particularly pleased with the first goal after Freddie Kennedy was able to win the ball back high up the pitch and win a corner. Although we didn’t score directly from the corner, it just shows the form Louis Joyce is in at the moment to react to the second ball and put the ball in the back of the net. Going into half time, I think we deserved our 1-0 lead.

During the break, we spoke about gaining better control of the game and dictating possession of the ball in the right areas and I thought the boys executed that perfectly throughout the second half. Never did we feel we were under any extreme pressure and I feel we had total control of the game. Where do I start with our second goal; Kieran Cooper doesn’t score tap ins! Another brilliant run starting inside his own half and a great finish to top it off.

Each player to a man had a part to play in this victory. The 11 that started the game worked to their maximum and all the subs came on and did exactly what we asked them to do. All in all a very satisfying night and a real squad effort to put us back on the right track.

We now have a break from league action with 3 important cup fixtures in the Berks and Bucks County Cup, The League Cup and the Floodlit Cup. As a management team we have challenged the squad to put another winning run together and improve on the 5 game winning streak at the start of the season.

We look forward to returning to league action back down the Heights and look forward to seeing you all down there soon.

Up The Milton!
Tatty

https://mobile.twitter.com/Abutdfc/status/1565724757328265217?t=UULWmvZ3ZYMUGMvLpYKprg&s=08