Written by Andrew Madaras
Photos by Chris White
When referee Billy Morgan blew the final whistle at well past 5 pm. I worked out we’d played an additional 14 minutes of stoppage time. It’s not good for a man with high blood pressure and a nervous disposition. The new FA rules were enforced to the letter by Billy, who as always, explained with patience and clarity where all the additional time came from.
Gone are the days when the teleprinter used to have the final scores coming through on our TV screens at 4.42 pm on a Saturday afternoon and by teatime at 5 pm every League score in the land was read out by James Alexander Gordon. By 6 pm the local evening paper’s football special was on the newsstands and newsagents shelves, printed in pink or green newspaper.
Goodness knows how we’d have coped back then with matches finishing after 5 p.m., but as we all know rules are rules and Billy was simply doing his job, and a pretty good job of it he made too.
This was one of those matches where with a few minutes to go to half time you ask yourself how the Blues haven’t managed to have an unassailable lead. It took our opponents until the 38th minute to get a shot on goal and then ten minutes later the half time whistle blows and we’re losing 1 -2, courtesy of two sucker punches in wait for it, the third and sixth minute of first half stoppage time. The second goal being a beautifully crafted lob from the edge of the penalty area by George Sippetts.
Sam Scott had given the Blues the perfect start by firing home in the 14th minute from a full 35 yards out a shot with both power and precision that nestled in the top right-hand corner of the Cockfosters net. This was Sam’s debut goal for the Club but be under no illusion, this was no fluke, as seasoned watchers of the players at training will know and testify.
Dunstable’s play was expressive and positive and showed no hangover from Tuesday night’s defeat at Biggleswade. Carl Knox was in goal for the Blues who pressed high and kept the pressure on the visitors from the start.
Even before Sam’s opener Kelvin Osei-Addo was just inches wide from putting the Blues ahead as he rounded the keeper but the angle proved too tight. A Joe Sellers-West curved shot from the angle flew narrowly wide of the far post as the goalkeeper stood rooted to his line. Danny Webb instrumental in the making of the chance.
On another day Dunstable’s superiority would have been rewarded with a bigger lead. But a strong comeback from the visitors saw them not only equalise but go ahead on the stroke of half-time.
Kyle Faulkner replaced Kelvin Osei-Addo at half-time and was soon in the thick of things. Dunstable restored parity just past the hour mark when Dylan Baker produced an unstoppable shot that evened things up nicely for the remaining half an hour, or three quarters of an hour with added time.
There were chances at both ends with the visitors hitting the crossbar and then somehow knocking the ball over the crossbar when almost on the goal line. Cockfosters were indebted to their keeper for some fine saves which denied Dunstable any further goals, and when the whistle blew another good crowd of 221 warmly applauded the players from the field.
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