BA Sunday met at Concorde Centre for yet another home game, this time the visitors were the unbeaten Hayes Gate FC.BA had virtually a full strength squad to choose from with Jez and Gav the only regulars missing. Kingy and Daz went with 4-4-2 formation with Tyler Gibson making his full debut upfront. Again BA had the luxury of a strong bench with 3 subs.
With the league again unable to provide a referee John King stepped up to the mark. The game kicked off and the opening exchanges were very even. Hayes Gate had a lot of possession whilst BA looked dangerous on the counter attack. After 15 minutes a long ball into the Hayes Gate half was closed down by Tyler, under pressure the Hayes Gate defender tried to pass across the goal but Tyler nipped in and interceped and finished with aplomb into the bottom corner.
BA were now ontop and Tyler's pace was a constant threat to the aging Hayes Gate back four. It wasn't long before the second goal followed this time a long ball from Josh set Tyler away again, in three strides he left the defender for dead and went in towards goal, the keeper narrowed the angle but Tyler rolled the ball into the corner of the net with a slight deflection off of the post. 2-0.
BA were now dominant, with Whitey finding his dribbling boots and the pace of Tyler working well together creating a number of chances. BA were also defending really well and Hayes Gate were limited to a number of long range efforts.
After 35 minutes the game was virtually killed off. Another through ball found Tyler in space and yet again he ran in on goal and then finished with great style to score a full debut hat-trick. 3-0.
At 3-0 up most teams would close the game out and probably score another couple, but not BA, they always like to keep the game interesting. Therefore it was no suprise for Hayes Gate to get back into the game. A long ball was not dealt with and the Hayes Gate broke through the defence to tap in past Trig. 3-1.
Within a minute Hayes Gate were back in the game. Another poor piece of defending left the Hayes Gate forward completely unmarked on the goal line to finish easily. 3-2 and BA felt there hard work had been undone.
The half time whistle came as welcome relief. All the talk at half time was about eliminating the stupid mistakes and keep trying to play positively. BA were still in the lead after all.
The second half began well for BA with a number of good moves, Garlick and Stu Trig were starting to dominate the midfield, and Kingy, Phil and Tyler were all linking up well. The defence also had a resilient look with Daz and Mick winning virtually everything. BA expected Hayes Gate to really come at them but this didn't happen primiarily because BA started so well.
Chances came and went but neither side could find the net and BA held on comfortably to inflict Hayes Gate first league defeat of the season. A win that puts BA firmly in the Championship picture.
Other results also went BA's way and so BA are now 3rd in the table, 3 points behind the leaders with a game in hand. A promising start to the new year.
