EDWIN GREAVES, THE AFC BINLEY MANAGER, WRITES ABOUT HIS TEAM'S 5-3 WIN v ATHLETIC SPARTA...

"Athletic Sparta got the game underway, started impressively and almost took the lead in the 5th minute when a long range shot hit the crossbar and bounced clear.

Sparta did eventually take the lead in the 23rd minute when a long ball forward was fumbled by Ryan Oldham for the Sparta forward to put the ball into a empty net:

0-1.

We hit back in the 26th minute when a Will Waddell free-kick was headed in by Steven Young: 1-1.

We then took the lead in the 38th minute when Travis Smallwood took a quick corner to Will Waddell whose cross found Danny Vincent in the box. Danny's low shot found the net: 2-1."

Half-time AFC Binley 2-1 Athletic Sparta...

"We got the 2nd half underway but Sparta were soon level when some good wing play unlocked our defence, before a close range finish gave Ryan Oldham no chance: 2-2.

This gave Sparta more confidence and in the 64th minute a foul from Aaron Laming gave away a penalty which they scored from: 2-3.

We hit back straight away with some good work from Tyler Morgan who won us a corner in the 60th minute. Will Waddell took the corner which was headed in by Fabian Spence: 3-3.

Substitutions: Travis Smallwood was replaced by Kyle Metcalfe and Tyler Morgan was replaced by David Simpson.

In the 74th the Sparta number 10 broke free but he hit the crossbar with his shot.

In the 77th minute a Will Waddell free-kick hit the crossbar and Blake Kassar was the quickest to react and he scored at the 2nd attempt, after the Sparta goalkeeper somehow stopped his first attempt from going in: 4-3.

2 minutes later David Simpson scored the goal of the game and finally gave us some breathing space. He collected a long ball forward, cut inside a Sparta defender and curled his shot into the net for his first goal for the 1st team.

In the 82nd minute Will Waddell was replaced by Tatenda Bako."

Full-time: AFC Binley 5-3 Athletic Sparta...

In summing up this game:

"I knew that we would have a difficult afternoon ahead of us as Sparta almost beat us back in September, when we had to come back from 2-0 down and score a last minute equaliser to draw 3-3.

Sparta didn't disappoint me and worked us very hard over 90 minutes; having said that we caused ourselves more problems than were needed today.

Once again these lads showed what they are made of when their backs are up against the wall.

This result puts us in a stronger position in our race for promotion, especially with 2 of our rivals dropping points.

However nothing really changes for us, we still need 6 more points from our 2 remaining games before our season ends and our rivals play their games in hand.

Those 2 remaining games come next week on Thursday 19th, away to Dunlop Reserves and Saturday 21st, away to Coventry Colliery Reserves."

Edwin Greaves, 

AFC Binley Manager...