Written by Andrew Madaras
Joe Deeney’s men made it six of the best to delight the large away following at Cow Lane on Tuesday evening. Tolu Ikuyinminu’s 64th minute piledriver proving to be decisive and the only goal of the match, a second round tie of the Dudley Latham Cup.
Six consecutive wins is another milestone reached by the management duo of Joe Deeney & Kyle Durcan. This weekend marks their first anniversary of their time in charge.
A heavy away loss at Harefield Utd on the 9th October prompted a wholesale change of the squad and the culture therein. Only Dylan Baker remains the sole survivor of the previous playing squad.
In that time Deeney & Durcan have overseen 45 competitive matches in charge, over half have been wins, and this season’s all matches record of P12 W10 D1 L1 F30 A8 GD +22 is testimony to the hours of preparation and planning that take place before each match.
The news from Physio Adam Ashton’s treatment room regarding Terrence Muchineripi who needed to be carried from the field at Colney Heath was not good. Terrence faces several weeks out with a scan due on Monday to confirm a diagnosis. The news on Ethan Creary was more encouraging with hope mounting that he may be fit enough for training this week.
He joins Kyle Davison-Gordon on the sidelines for an extended period. Their absence meant that Ruari Mills and Dan Naylor both made their first starts of the season. Both were excellent against a competitive, skilful and energetic Tring side which featured former Blues, Adam Sawyer, Davide Pobbe, Godlove Oppong and George Carberry.
Connor Coulson took over between the sticks and he too was faultless, one second half save in particular was Coulson at his best to deny Tring an equalizer.
On the bench, there was a welcome return for Jack Percy and Isaac Olaleye. Percy who was injured in pre-season came on for the final few minutes while Olaleye replaced skipper Alfie Osborne, who had taken a knock, at half time.
The last time Dunstable played at Tring just over a year ago in the SSML, there had been a long delay in the second half due to a floodlight failure. Thankfully on this occasion, the lights stayed on and the Blues ended up deserved victors.
They were grateful to Ruari Mills as early as the 9th minute who made a fantastic challenge to deny the Tring forwards.
The contest between Mills & Oppong was front row viewing. Two splendid athletes in competition with Mills getting the upper hand on the night and preventing Oppong from adding to his season goal tally.
A towering header from Joe Sellers-West on the half hour was just over.
Tring always looked dangerous but the midfield general, Alfie Osborne marshalled his troops all over the park with Liam McCrohan & J’Ardell Stirling looking as solid as rocks it would need something special from the home team to get past Coulson.
Kyle Faulkner was full of running and he so nearly put the Blues ahead on 54 minutes with a burst of pace which took him past defenders. His shot was well saved by the keeper with a covering defender clearing the rebound off the line.
The goal on 64 minutes was the result of good link up play between Remell Stirling and Liam McCrohan. The latter’s cross being well controlled at the far post by Tolu who turned on a sixpence and lashed the ball into the top left-hand corner.
A worthy winner on any occasion, and a victory which was warmly greeted by the 45-50 Dunstable fans in attendance.
Saturday sees Leighton Town travel to Creasey Park, as the Blues return to League action. It’s the game of the day in the SSML Premier Division and the Club expects a large crowd and are urging all supporters to park in the overflow car park and arrive at the ground in good time for kick off.
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