Goals: Jens 2, Nathan, Jeff

This was an excellent result against a strong Football Club side still smarting from losing the Div One crown last season. Spartans fielded their strongest squad of the season, no surprises @ the HKFC I guess. The new surface, although seemingly long “grass” was a joy to play on.
The first starting eleven (H, Ben, Bertie, Briggs, Darren, Cowley, Scouse, Nathan, Rick O, Jens and Jeff) played some of the best football I’ve seen from a Spartans team for a long time. The passing was crisp and decisive, defensively we did not give them many opportunities. The striking partnership of Jeff and Jens was causing the Albion defense all sorts of problems and when Jens blasted in a thunderbolt 1-0, the Albion knew they had a game on their hands.  Albion responded to constant Spartans pressure and were soon on level terms with an excellent individual effort. Things only got better for Spartans and soon were 2-1 up when Jens was put through and sweetly drilled his shot past the Albion keeper. At the 20 min mark a ring of changes were made Mike for Ben, Stef for Darren, Joe for Rick, Lionel for Cowley and Flabbo for Jeff. The fresh legs kept the game 2-1 at half time, although both sides had chances to add to the score. 

As the sun dipped for the second half, playing conditions improved and both sides looked to further their scores. Soon Albion got an equalizer courtesy of a gifted pass from Stef to the Albion striker 2-2. Flabbo then had a golden opportunity to put Spartans back in the lead, after being put through by Cowley, managed to skew the shot past the post when it seemed easier to score. The Spartans midfield reinforced by Rick Man were a continued threat, but the advantage swung when Albion took advantage of some indecision in the defense and they went 3-2 up. We never gave up and the pressure was rewarded when Nathan stooped to head home a Bertrand corner. As the game came to a close, we broke down the right and Jeff rounded off a superb individual performance by slotting home to make a final score of 4-3.

This was an excellent game with everyone playing their part. This was a strong Albion team and we should be proud of our efforts. We never gave up and deserved our victory. This only goes to show that we can mix it with the big boys in this Division.

MOM: ALL.