Ryman Div One North
Burnham Ramblers 1 v 4 Aveley
By Scott Hately courtesy of www.pitchero.com/aveley
AVELEY boss Justin Gardner hailed his side after their 4-1 victory over Burnham Ramblers which he described as the “proudest moment of my career.”
With centre half Glen Golby in goal and striker Aaron Gayle once against playing at centre back, Gardner said prior to the game that if his side got anything out of today it would be the best result of his career.
Not only did they win, they won comfortably and deservedly so, although the needed a helping hand to take the lead when Jay Kynaston put a Paul Burnett cross into his own net early in the second half.
The lead lasted no more than four minutes however after Burnham were awarded a penalty which Bradley Nobbs converted, despite Golby diving the right way.
But a goal apiece from Kyle Asante, Lee Weemes and an injury time goal from Oyetunji Oyewale secured back to back victories for the Millers with one game left to play this season.
Gardner admitted afterwards that he had a sleepless night worrying about who he would play in goal against Burnham. And with Kalin Artakiev, Stevie Sutton and Ronnie Worster all injured it was left to Glen Golby to take over the gloves.
Golby though has got previous in goal for the Millers, having saved a penalty in the final game of the 2008/09 season which won Aveley the Ryman North title and promotion to the Ryman Premiership at the expense of the side they played that day, East Thurrock United.
Although the stakes were nowhere near as high as they were that day, Gardner still believed that any result would be the best of his career to date.
And his side almost went behind inside the first 10 minutes after Dan Williams rounded Golby having been put clean through on goal, only for the striker to fail to keep the ball in play.
Golby was then forced into action making his first save of the match after Billy Hunt was slid through, with the ‘goalkeeper’ saving well with his legs.
Despite all the absentees, Gardner started with an attacking line up with Petrit Elbi returning from suspension playing up front with Lee Weemes, and Kyle Asante and Paul Burnett on the wings.
Weemes was presented with Aveley’s first effort on goal, heading over from an Adetayo Osifuwa cross, and Aaron Gayle – a striker by trade – also headed over from a cross from the right, this time from Burnett as the Millers began to create openings.
But it was the visitors who had by far the best two chances of the first half, and having seen Hunt’s effort saved by Golby, Williams then received the same treatment having been played in down the right with his low strike pounced upon by Golby to ensure the scores stayed level at the break.
Despite Gardner’s initial fears, his Millers side had not been too troubled in the opening 45 minutes, and six minutes into the second half they went and opened the scoring, albeit with a bit of fortune.
Having picked the ball up on the right, Burnett’s trickery got him space to put in a cross with his cut back being sliced into the net and past Louis Godwin-Green by Jay Kynaston.
With all the bad fortune that had bestowed Aveley this season they were finally due some luck, but their lead only lasted four minutes as the hosts were awarded a penalty for a foul on Tyrone Scarlett by Jay Leader, which Bradley Nobbs duly converted.
The two goals in the opening 10 minutes of the second half opened up the match, and Burnham’s equaliser gave the hosts the impetus as they created three good chances to take the lead in quick succession.
The first chance fell to Mark Sisson who dragged his shot just wide of Golby’s far post after being slid in down the left.
A matter of seconds later Golby saved brilliantly at the near post with one hand after Scarlett had wriggled his way into the box.
And minutes later Hunt was played in down the left only for his shot to loop into the grateful hands of Golby having been blocked by Leader.
From then on it was all Aveley and Lee Weemes should have added to his goal against Erith at the weekend after being played in by Mathias Bakare, but the striker could not get his strike past Godwin-Green who gathered at the second attempt.
But that missed opportunity was not to matter as moments later the Millers were back in front with Weemes playing a major part in the build-up.
A long ball forward from Taylor Nathaniel was brought down brilliantly by Weemes who weaved one way and then another before sliding in Asante who duly guided the ball past the advancing goalkeeper to put Aveley back in front.
With 25 minutes still to play a third goal was needed to settle any nerves with Gardner imploring his side to at least hold onto the lead a little longer than they had previously.
And they should really have extended it after Weemes and Asante linked up again, with the former pulling back for the latter who saw his first time effort brilliantly saved by Godwin-Green.
But with three minutes of normal time remaining, two quick-fire goals from the Millers secured victory after Weemes and Oyetunji Oyewale got their names on the score sheet.
After Osifuwa was brought down on the edge of the area by Reece Brandon, Burnett whipped in a devilish ball towards the near post which Weemes expertly flicked past Godwin-Green to put daylight between the Millers and their hosts.
And in injury time a perfectly threaded through ball from Burnett found the run of substitute Oyewale who had beaten the offside trap, allowing the forward to nick the ball past the goalkeeper and roll it into an empty net.
Following the match Gardner was asked if that was the best result of his career, as he predicted it would be pre-match, responding with “100%.”
The Millers boss continued, saying “(It was) the proudest moment of my career. We had no goalie today, we’ve had no centre half today.
“Two of our centre mids – one hasn’t played for two months, the other’s got a back injury and shouldn’t have been on the pitch, Kyle Asante is playing with a hamstring injury. Proudest moment of my career considering what we had out there.
“I’ve won trophies, but I’ve always had five subs, a strong squad and today we were weak in terms of what we had before the kick-off and to go and win 4-1 and to play lovely football for the last 30 minutes, proud is not the word.”
Aveley: Glen Golby, Adetayo Osifuwa, Taylor Nathaniel, Jay Leader, Aaron Gayle, Joseph Tabiri, Kyle Asante (Josh Coulson 82’), Petrit Elbi (c)(Oyetunji Oyewale 71’), Lee Weemes, Paul Burnett, Mathias Bakare (Anton Stephenson 77’)
