22nd October - Beaconsfield SYCOB 0 AFC Dunstable 1

Having picked up a battling point on Tuesday night, AFC surpassed that with a vital 3 points with a goal by Adiel Mannion on 84 minutes and at the time down to 10 men, after Josh Humbert picked up his 2nd yellow card 10 minutes earlier.

Unfortunately, the game will be remembered for the performance of the man in the middle, as he was the main topic of conversation by everyone who witnessed the game. Sadly, it took away the spotlight from Ricky Perks, who made 3 excellent saves, which went along way to securing the points, which saw AFC move into a play off place.

Once again the visitors found it hard to get going in the first half of the game, as SYCOB, who have only one win in the league so far, looked the more dangerous.

Perks was called into action as early as the 17th minute. He kept out a fine strike from Nathan Minhas. With AFC finding it hard to get any cohesion in their game, Perks was called into action again 4 minutes later to keep the visitors in the game.

With the game going along swimmingly, on 31 minutes is when it all changed regarding the official. As Brandon Carney broke into the Beaconsfield box, it looked like a definite push. The home players and management did not seem to have a problem with that, but the referee disagreed. He gave a free kick to the home side and decided to show 3 yellow cards to AFC players. 

Half time: Beaconsfield SYCOB 0 AFC Dunstable 0

With both teams trying their hardest to play the game, stoppages and petty decisions started to ruin the game. With chances at a premium for the visitors, a lovely through ball by Newman Carney found Jermaine Hall. The striker, surrounded by 3 defenders, somehow escaped them, but put his shot  just wide of the upright 10 minutes into the 2nd period.

With yellow cards still littering the game, AFC found themselves down to 10 men as Humbert saw his 2nd. It now looked like the visitors would have to shut up shop and hang on for a point. Perks again had to be his agile best to deny the Beaconsfield attack again.

Then out of nothing AFC took the lead. With 6 minutes remaining, the ball found Mannion in a similar position on Tuesday night. He wriggled around 2 defenders to find the back of the net.

The man in black was still not finished. A 2nd yellow for Beaconsfield evened up the red cards. With the hosts going all out for the equaliser, it was backs to the wall, as the OD's defended as if their lives depended on it and saw out the game.

Suffering mixed emotions after the game, AFC manager Steve Heath said "while I am delighted with the 3 points, the victory seems a bit hollow. Myself and my compatriots on the Beaconsfield bench are still trying to come to terms on what happened out there, but that's for another day. Again we had to battle extremely hard and as I have said before, there are no easy games in the Southern League. I must though be happy to pick up 7 points in 6 days, especially 4 of those points came against top 6 teams"

AFC Team. Perks. Massay. Murphy. Morgan. Griffiths. N.Carney. B.Carney. Olaleye. Hall. Humbert. Mannion. Subs not used. Kissiedu. Bailey. Byron. Silvestri

Scorer: Mannion (84)

Attendance 66.