Barrington Reserves 0

Melbourn 1

BIS Division 5B

A CONTROVERSIAL Ali Oglivie penalty proved the difference between the two sides as Melbourn took all three points against Barrington Reserves on Saturday.

Melbourn started strongly and spent the first 10 minutes camped in their opponents’ half. Oglivie was proving a difficult customer for Barrington to deal with and his ability to switch play was causing them great difficulty. However, on the 10 minute mark a quick break from the home team caught Melbourn napping and a fine reaction save from Paul Huzzey kept the scores level.

It was a wake up call and Melbourn pushed on again. Lee Edmans looked to have the perfect opportunity to score when a defence-splitting ball from Oglvie found Edmans in the box on his own, but he hit straight at the ‘keeper when he should have done better.

Melbourn then went into a period of hibernation letting the home team dictate a lot of play and they could be thankful to Ian Burt at the heart of the defence who more often than not intervened at the last moment.

It was an odd period of play that eventually saw Melbourn back in the Barrington box. Tom Walker appeared to be going nowhere in the box when the home defender tried to go through him to get the ball. Walker stood his ground but the referee decided there was enough contact to give a penalty. Once the home team’s complaining had ceased, Oglvie kept a cool head to slot home the penalty.

This reinvigorated Melbourn and they never looked like loosing the game thereafter.

The second half saw Melbourn start slowly but as the half wore on they started to stretch the home defence, with Russell Cooper, Edmans, Oglvie and substitute Lee Cooper all going close.

With 15 minutes remaining Barrington were reduced to 10 men, when their substitute reacted angrily to an innocuous Oglivie challenge which saw the Melbourn player punched in return. Barrington never really looked like getting back into the game.

Melbourn now have a week off before returning to action against Bar Hill.

Melbourn: P Huzzey; Wilkins (White), Burt, Monahan, Carse; Barton (L Cooper), Walker, L Huzzey, Oglivie; Edmans (Gregory), R Cooper.