Ware 1-2 AFC Dunstable
Ware 1-2 AFC Dunstable
Southern League Division One Central
Saturday 20th April 2024
AFC Dunstable secured their place in the playoffs with a fine performance at fellow playoff contenders Ware on Saturday.
With many players unavailable through injury, the team was changed somewhat from the one that played last time out in the Bedfordshire Senior Cup Final.
As expected, it was a cagey start to the game but Arnold Matshazi came close to scoring in the 10th minute when Ware keeper Fred Burbridge failed to gather a cross cleanly and the ball dropped to the AFC forward but Burbridge recovered well to block his shot.
The OD’s were dealt a blow when Yoav Sade had to be replaced by Callum Martin soon after but the latter put in a great shift in only his 6th appearance for the club.
Louis Walsh had a great chance to open the scoring sixteen minutes in when another cross from the right found him at the back post but he was unable to control his header and it went wide. Ware’s Mitch Hahn then hit a fine volley wide of Seb Stacey’s post.
The hosts had the ball in the net on 20 minutes but Jack Dreyer was offside follow a cross from the left by the lively Theo Ofori who himself had a shot blocked soon after, as Ware upped the tempo.
There was little goalmouth action until just before half time when Kwad Bugyei-Kyei had a long-range curling effort drift wide before Ben Weyman narrowly missed the target with a driven shot from the edge of the area.
Just after the break Weyman struck another shot just wide then Dan Idiakhoa replaced the hardworking Rocko Tamplin in the 56th minute and his introduction would prove a masterstroke by the management team later in the game.
Stacey pulled off a brilliant save to deny Ofori with 64 minutes on the clock and three minutes later Weyman again shot from range which narrowly cleared the crossbar.
Matshazi opened the scoring in the 71st minute when excellent play by Idiakhoa found his team mate in the box, Matshazi spun his marker superbly and drilled the ball past Burbridge to give AFC the lead.
He got his second just three minutes later when Idiakhoa again set him up to crash a fine shot in off the underside of the bar from just inside the area to spark scenes of joy.
Ware kept going but were finding it hard to breakdown a determined AFC team. They did however score in the 93rd minute when Richard Ennin scored from close range to set up a frantic last few minutes but the OD’s held firm to pick up the points.
Team: Stacey; Sade (Martin 16′); Bugyei-Kyei; Weyman; Staszewski; Rosner; Tamplin (Idiakhoa 56′); Nicolson; Matshazi; Walsh; Brooks (Ramsay 77′).
Subs not used: Ameganvi & Tagoe.
