Worthing 1, Aveley 2

A STUNNING performance from Vanarama National South new boys Aveley on Saturday (19 August) ended the hosts' winning streak and put the Millers alongside them at the top of the table.

The was the clichéd game of two halves as Millers weathered early pressure and then took advatage of the slope and wind at their backs to take a two goal lead into the break and then a hard-fought rearguard action saw them survive the Rebels' second half pressure.

As expected, Worthing came out of the traps with early pressure and keeper Jonathan North was alert to deny Joe Felix when he broke through on goal in the third minute.

But the first goal came at the other end on 18 minutes when Jon Nzengo and Kenny Aileru linked up, before Nzengo rolled the ball into the path of Jon Benton to score.

And things got even better just before half time when, after a foul on Matt Rush, a spectacular free-kick Eduino Vaz from flew into the top right hand corner.

There was drama at the start of the second half when Worthing won a penalty, which was converted but the referee then disallowed the goal and awarded a free-kick to Aveley.

Worthing (and Aveley fans) were a little baffled. There have been changes to Law 14 regarding penalty kicks this season but the only circumstances in which a penalty is scored and not retaken because of an infringement is if there is 'illegal' feinting by the kicker, which should then result in the kicker being cautioned - or a different player to the one nominated takes the penalty. Again a caution should be issued.

No card was shown so it remains a mystery what happened - but one that Aveley were delighted to be the beneficiaries of.

After the match Worthing manager Adam Hinshelwood said he had received no further enlightenment on what the decision was!

It was though, the start of something of an onlaught on the Aveley goal.

But staunch defending, hard work and a bit of luck with the woodwork meant Millers held onto the lead.

They cracked just one, on the hour when Ollie Pearce squared the ball across goal andJoan Luque was at the back post to tap home but that was as good as it got for the home side, despite lengthy periods of pressure.

In his post match summary Aveley boss Danny Scopes was fulsome in his praise of his squad, and the travelling Millers fans.

He said: "We had a bit of wind and the hill in our favour and I thought we got it right in the first half, We were trying to be aggressive and we got our goal and then built on it.

"The second half was about holding on, I'm not afraid to say we defended deep and held them out against all the pressure.

"They were the best team we've played so far but we've had three really good p[erformances.

"We've made a good start, it takes a little bit of pressure off in terms of chasing results but we have still got a lot of week to do.

"Let's not get too excited, get our heads down and get ready for a big weekend coming up."

Scopes also paid tribute to the large number of supporters who travelled and acknowledged the part they played in the win.