6 - 5 Thriller

The day before Halloween and the boys played out a "Thriller"! Luckily the result didn't end in a "Nightmare" as Harvesters just scrapped through 5 - 6 to win all 3 points away to Alexandra Park North.

The home side had a number of strong players in particular a very tall centre forward who continuously caused trouble for the midfield and defence. The game started badly when a long range shot slipped under Oscar to make it one nil to AP, and shortly after they added another which put the home side in control.

Despite the being behind, the boys were playing some decent football, fully exploiting the gaps and stringing some really nice passing moves together.

The long AP balls were causing lots of problems to the defence but East pulled the game around with 3 quick goals in the middle part of the half. First Niall Watson slotted in at the far post following great play by Cameron to make it 2- 1, the an OG put the game all square. Flynn Cairns playing in the middle of midfield then shot from the edge of the box to make it 2 - 3 to the East.

Chris Druce came on midway through the first half for his debut and slipped into the game very comfortably, making some neat passes from the right back position.

Then after making another crucial challenge Bobby Milner took a nasty knock to the head. The team were left with 11 players as Bobby was taken to hospital as a precaution. This meant further changes to positions which took some adjusting to.

But the boys nudged further ahead as Will Walker was played through and neatly slotted home. Again the strong physical presence and the very long throws caused the East defence lots of trouble, and towards the end of the half AP scored 2 more goals to make it 4 - 4 at half time.

In the 2nd half the hastily rearranged defence finally got to grips with the AP forwards and started denying them time and space. Owen and Joe K provided great outlets from defence and Oscars confidence grew. As a result more of the game started to be played in the AP half.

AP went 5 - 4 up, but again East came back into it to make it 5 - 5 through James Heppenstall.

With only 5 minutes left the ball dropped to Will Walker, who was probably the best Harvesters player on the day. From the edge of the box he hit a sweet left footed strike over the keeper to make it 5 - 6.

The last 5 minutes required cool heads and lots of tenacity. Max and Joe B put in some great tackles and blocks to help the boys hang on.

In the end and in the circumstances AP were unlucky to lose. The game was played in a great "Spirit" by both sides and was well refereed as well.

All the boys will be wishing Bobby well and hoping to see him return fit and healthy very soon.