Johnstown went into this game against league favorites Park Villa on the back of a hard fought win the previous week. In the early stages both teams went close to breaking the deadlock, villa keeper parried a Vilnis drive from 12 yards and at the other end Johnstown keeper Makinde produce a brilliant double save, which resulted in home keeper diving bravely at the feet of the on rushing forward.
Both sides threatened to score, but midway through the 1st half the away side drew 1st blood, a free kick taken quickly from 25 yards caught the home keeper off his line. Parkvilla began to dominate possession and looked the more likely to score again, but the Johnstown defence held firm through solid play from center pairing McQuillan and Hill. The Johnstown team showed great character and just before half time they where rewarded for their hard work, Lee showed great determination by disposing the villa winger, he quickly put Johnstown on attack, clever play by Byrne on the right put Vilnis through on goal who coolly finished in the bottom left corner.
HT 1-1
Johnstown started the the second half how they finished the 1st, the home side began dominating possession with midfield trio Kelly, Taylor and Gorman pulling the strings, Vilnis confidence was up and was unlucky not to score again, both Gorman and Burton where also denied by the inform Villa keeper. With the game still poised Makinde came to the rescue again when we pulled off a wonderful save to claw away a rare Villa attack. Eventually Johnstown’s dominance paid off, good work on the left from Burton forced a corner and the resulting set piece from Taylor caused confusion when it eventually fell to Gorman who fired Johnstown into the lead. Johnstown went in search of a third, good link up play between Byrne and Burton who played to Vilnis, he broke through the Villa rearguard and was unlucky not to score when his brilliant chip hit the bar.
Villa pressed for an equalizer and with 15 minutes remaining, the away side scored, excellent strike from the edge of the box, turning the game on its head, putting their title challenge back on track. However Johnstown rallied and introduced Suchan and Healy to inject some fresh legs to the team, with minutes remaining Johnstown got the deserved winner, excellent pressing from Suchan, forced a Villa mistake and it was Vilnis who punished the away side to blast Johnstown to victory.
FT 3-2
Best for Johnstown: Vilnis, Hill and Burton
Team: Damisola Makinde, David Lee, Kyle O Hara, Josh Hill, Andrew Mcquillan, Benji Taylor, Ryan Kelly, Daniel Gorman, Conor Byrne, Euan Burton, Nauris Vilnis, Viktor Suchan, Conor Healy.
