BA met unbeaten Northolt Rangers in a top of the table clash at a sodden Perivale Park. Incredibly it was BA's first away game of the season and the spoilt BA boys were more than shocked at the standard of facilities away from Concorde Centre. Despite the terrible facilities the pitch was in a reasonable state considering the constant rain experienced over the last week. However it was clear that a short passing game was not the way to play in these conditions. Kingy and Dazza asked the boys to try and play in the channels and get the Northolt defence turned. As the game kicked off it was immediately clear that the BA boys were up for it. Bish and Trig putting in some great work and some strong challenges. After 6 minutes Bish won the ball and passed to Kingy, who turned nicely, and fed the ball through to Stu Trig who ran in one on one and confidently smashed the ball under the Northolt keeper. BA had a deserved lead. Notholt were visibly shocked by the start BA had made, especially the work rate of the defence and midfield and BA looked very dangerous on the break. After 20 minutes good link up play between White and King resulted in a free-kick on the right hand side. As BA crowded the box Dazza lofted a great ball onto the head of Whitey who glanced the ball of the side of his head and into the far corner of the net. BA were in dreamland. Two-Nil up and Northolt's 100% record was hugely under threat. As the rain started to come down, Northolt started to raise their game. Three corners in quick succession kept the BA boys on their toes but they defended well, but the pressure continued to build and it was no surprise when a neat one two left the Northolt forward in on goal and he finished well into the bottom corner. Two one. As the hail rained down and the wind blew the ref decided enough was enough and blew for half time. The half time team talk was all about no nonsense defending. The BA boys knew they would be up against a strong wind and a re-vitalised Northolt frontline. Almost immediately from kick off Northolt set about finding an equaliser. Shots rained in from all angles but Berno and the defence dealt superbly with everything that came their way.As the pressure grew Whitey and Kingy became more isolated up front and were restricted to brief forays into Northolt territory. Still BA hung on. With 25 minutes to go the inevitable equaliser came. A corner from the right was drilled in under the nose of Berno who was blocked in trying to punch, and the ball was poked in. There was a strong suspicion of a foul but the ref saw differently. 2-2. Despite Northolt's dominance there was still enough time for Mooney to nearly snatch a winner for BA. A long winding run from the right ended up with him shooting powerfully against the bar, the ball re-bounded to White at chest height but he was unable to control the shot and it went wide. BA had another chance following cross from Josh, but King could only shoot over the bar. Just as BA were heading towards a deserved draw. in the 90th minute disaster struck. The Northolt left winger escaped from the clutches of BA back four and put across a decent ball and the right winger tapped in from a yard out. 3-2 to Northolt. The celebrations of the Northolt players said it all about how tough a game it had been. Despite the defeat the attitude, commitment and effort of the team, in particular the keeper and back four, was incredible and was probably the best defensive performance in the last 2 seasons. All of the defence were superb but Micky Howes had one of his best games in a long while. With 2 huge games coming up the future looks bright.
