16th February - St Margaretsbury 0 AFC Dunstable 1

AFC had to call on all their resources, to pick up the 3 points to jump up to 2nd spot in the league and in the end close the gap on leaders Hoddesdon Town who surprisingly lost 3-0 to lowly Leverstock Green. Manager Steve Heath summed up tonight's results saying " it just goes to show tonight that the league this season is very tough. Teams down the bottom are fighting for their lives and that was proved. We really had to dig deep for the win, as St Margaretsbury especially in the 2nd half pushed for an equaliser" 

It took a well worked goal by Jermaine Hall that separated the two teams. With not many chances in the game, it took 35 goal man BJ Christie to become the provider this time. He was found out wide on the left by Charlie Gorman. He forged down the wing and crossed for Hall to score from close range at the far post.

With AFC welcoming back Jason Beck after suspension, boss Heath lost influential Josh Humbert an hour before kick off when he fell ill. Also unavailable to him was Terry Griffiths, so he had to juggle his starting line up which saw left back Newman Carney taking up a centre back role alongside Beck.

After the promising start for the visitors, the game unfolded into a midfield battle. Both teams found it hard to supply many chances for their strikers and the half ended with AFC holding the slight advantage.

Half time: St Margaretsbury 0 AFC Dunstable 1

If the 1st half was a battle, the 2nd was even more intense. The home side sensed they had a chance in the game and applied a bit more pressure.

The half was developing as both teams were not giving up any ground. AFC nearly doubled their lead on 62 minutes when sub Nathan Frater forced a decent save from the home keeper. The hosts had a couple of half chances down to hesitation by the AFC back line, but they recovered in time to clear any danger. 

With the game drawing to an end, in the 90th minute Tom Davis should have drawn Bury level. Good work out wide saw the ball find him unmarked in the box but he ballooned his shot over the bar. The referee somehow found 9 minutes of injury time but the OD's held out to pick up 3 vital points.

AFC Team: Perks. Massay. Jones. N.Carney. Beck. B.Carney. Gorman. Olaleye. Chrsitie. Cashman. Hall. Subs used. Frater. Darby. Sub not used. Silvestri

Scorer: Hall (12)