Ath U18's Edge 9-Goal Thriller

Ben Acquaye and Nathan Swift were the stars of the show when Steve Farmborough and Sam Pateman took charge of Buckingham Athletic U18’s first friendly against Aylesbury FC U18’s ahead of a season in the Allied Counties Division. The encounter took a while to get into full swing until Acquaye was fouled in the box to give Athletic the chance to open the scoring, Swift took control and converted calmly, showing his confidence in front of goal. Laurence Mills made some key saves to help preserve a lead and a clean sheet going into the break and Matt Chew held the team together from the back to keep the Ath on track. The team then stormed into a three-goal lead where Acquaye scored a quick-fire brace to take control going into the second half. Both finishes clinically planted into the corners of the goal, one first time finish from 20 yards and the other a sublime half-volley. The second half saw a change in fortune for the blues as they quickly had their lead decreased when Aylesbury brought it back to 3-2 when some disappointing defending inflicted Ath’s punishment. Buckingham continued to press for more goals to reinstate their superiority and they did just that when a long ball forward was latched onto by Jordan Tavener who was taken down by the Aylesbury goalkeeper, resulting in the second penalty in the game. Again Nathan Swift stepped up and was composed enough to chip it down the middle as it clipped the crossbar before crossing the line. Just minutes later the lead was cut again to one as Aylesbury tightened the game. The end-to-end encounter was failing to die down as Nathan Swift went on an impressive solo run and finished well to complete his hat-trick on his first game in light blue. The final goal came from Aylesbury as they again cut the lead, this time from a penalty of their own, to pile pressure on for the final moments of the game, but the Ath were able to hang on to get their pre-season off to a great start. The large squad proved to be hard to control over the course of the game but over the entire the season this strong squad of players will surely mount a good challenge on competitors this season. Ben Acquaye was named man of the match for his stunning performance in the number ten role, scoring two goals and controlling the play from start to finish. Next up for the U18’s is Olney U18’s on Tuesday 2nd August.

Ben Acquaye earned himself the man of the match award