Middlesex County – Premier Division
St Panteleimon 3 – Pitshanger Dynamo 1
(HT 2-1)
Ayub Al-Badri 22’, 33’, 65’

At Berkeley Fields, Greenford
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Two minutes of impeccably observed silence marked 100 years since the end of World War I. Respect was shown by the teams and fans to the departed and the fallen in the two world wars.

Kick off time was 14:02.

Fast out of the traps today, the first, furious 5 minutes saw St Panteleimon take the game to Pitshanger Dynamo, the league leaders.

But unable to capitalise, the Saints went behind on 7 minutes. A nice move and great finish off the bar showed Pitshanger’s quality.

Both these know how to play football as it is mean to be played and the game developed an entertaining pattern and a high quality tempo.

The Saints pressed hard and ran hard. Then it started to rain hard as well.

Some good passing and a great through ball by Courtney Massay, on his debut, gave the skillful Ayub Albadri a chance in front of the goalkeeper. He rounded the keeper with a slick move and netted to equalise on 22 minutes.

This gave the Saints an impetus, and at 33 minutes the ball came to Albadri and he fired an unstoppable shot high beyond the keeper. 2-1 to The Saints at half time.

The rain was relentless, but both teams played on in a great spirit. Clean tackles and good passing on a wet and greasy pitch. But the Saints pulled away with a lovely third from hat-trick hero Albadri on 65 minutes. Again he was through on goal and went around the goalkeeper. Silky and smooth, seriously skilful with searing speed. That’s Ayub.

A lot of great performances and a superb win.

The Saints earned a well deserved three points. They still have two games in hand and are now still unbeaten after 9 games. On top of this, they have the best defence in the league, as the only team with single digit “goals against”, 9.

– Report by James Neophytou