Almaty Athletic 3 City Ramblers 1

Ref bad... performance ok... result great!

Almaty kept up their unbeaten run so far this season by beating City Rambers 3-1 in a keenly contested game. The result means Almaty move above City Ramblers into 2nd place and cement their status as the main challengers to league leaders FC Miracle.

The squad was somewhat decimated with Gav and Billy both out with ankle injuries and Dave Smith otherwise engaged. Thankfully, despite a swollen Achilles Alex’s medical team released him to play. Shane Smith was given a late call-up to ensure Almaty had a sub. The team was as follows: Safehands, Spratt, Dawson, O’Donovan, P Smith, Machado.

Almaty started brightly and came close early on but Spratt was unable to keep his shot on target (nothing unusual there!). Almaty fans weren’t to be kept in suspense as they took the lead soon after when Marco "Don't stop me now" notched up his 15th of the season with a neat finish.

Without the lad in the Barca shirt City Ramblers failed to create many chances. Mark "Dawse" Dawson kept their chunky striker in his pocket. However, against the run of play City Ramblers equalised in controversial circumstances. A corner kick was squared to the edge of the circle the ball deflected up against the arm of one the Ramblers’ players. As the Almaty players froze like statues waiting for the referee to blow his whistle the Ramblers player took advantage and scored. Despite Phil "McEnroe" Smith’s rant the ref characteristically didn’t change his mind! Almaty players were riled. Their annoyance was exaggerated by further bizarre referring decisions. Firstly Marco was battle-rammed off the ball when clean through on goal. Secondly, Shane Smith was hacked down on the touchline. “It’s a soccer match not a GAA match” comment from Shane “Cheeky chap” Smith further turned the ref against Almaty.

It could have gone from bad to worse for Almaty when “Gaffer” Spratt nearly scored an own goal (nothing unusual there!) when he side-passed a Ramblers corner goal-bound. Sweetnam showed why he has earned the name “Safehands” by showing great agility to dive low and push the ball wide of the post. Despite playing against an 7th man Almaty pressed hard and create a number of chances but failed to regain their lead before the break.

Early on in the second half Almaty scored their second; Marco "I'm having such a good time" Machado again the finisher. City Ramblers came close to equalising when “Safehands” Sweetnam air-kicked his clearance in spectacular fashion. The Ramblers striker failed to capitalize and saved “Safehands” blushes as he skied the ball high and wide with the goal gapping. Thankfully, the nerves of the Almaty’s fans were calmed when Marco "I'm having a ball don't stop me now!" Machado sealed his hat-trick a couple of minutes later with another neat finish. This puts Marco “Shearer” Machado on 17 goals for the season… 6 ahead of Gav “Sutton” Jeffery but who’s counting?!

Tempers flared again between the two sides with Mark “Vidic” Dawson aggrieved about a loose elbow. The only other moment to note in the game was Phil “hasn’t scored in weeks” Smith’s breakdown with a couple of minutes to go. “Gaffer” Spratt substituted Marco (so that he could get the applause from the crowd for his hat-trick) and replaced him with Mark “Del-boy” Dawson to bolster the defence much to the consternation of Phil “have a fit” Smith!

Whilst Almaty’s performance was not as fluid as last week’s the squad were delighted with another important win. Next week Almaty face Majestic Rovers.