The Saints St Panteleimon are still top of the Middlesex County Premier League after four games and four wins and they did it in style with a 3-1 away win over Brentham FC.
The Saints travelled a short distance to the West this week, for an away match in Ealing.
Brentham FC is housed within an impressive sports club covering tennis, cricket, bowls and football.
Even though they were buzzing from their 3 league wins and an FA Vase round 1 win, The Saints started slowly. Both sides evenly claiming possession, and creating a couple of chances early on.
It took over half an hour for first blood. A corner for the home side and a header at the near post saw Brentham take the lead on the 35 minute mark. They held on until half time.
How many times have The Saints come back from behind? The steely determination. The inspiration from the half time team talk. Both were shown once again. The Saints came out stronger and played their natural passing game.
More and more runs from the fast forward line of Noyan Tajbakhsh, Ayub Albadri and Nick Salapatas gave the home side plenty of headaches. It took only another 12 minutes for the Saints to equalise. But what an equaliser. Tajbakhsh drove into the penalty area and from an acute angle lobbed the goalkeeper with an exquisitely placed chip, that hit the back of net to the joy of the travelling fans. It was great to see some new faces in those fans also. The Saints are building quite a name for themselves.
There was no way back for Brentham. 18 minutes later Ayub Albadri scored a rebound header after a strong strike from Salapatas. Game over after 75 minutes.
But the Saints love playing football and they didn’t sit back. They wanted to make sure and Ryan Molloy scored right at the end to make it a safe 1-3.
Full points from 4 games. Goals For: 14. Against: 4. Plus 10 goal difference. Top of the league.
Great start and a confident team. A courageous team. Standing tall.
Next week it’s back to the FA Vase for the Saints at North Greenford. All welcome as they entertain Long Buckby in the second qualifying round. The winners earn a place in the first full round.
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Full Time at The Brentham Club
Brentham FC 1 – St Panteleimon 3
(HT 1-0)
(Saints scorers: Tajbakhsh 57’, Albadri 75’, R. Molloy 90’).
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