Report
Ruislip Manor spoilt the party on a historic day for Leyton Pennant, by taking the points back to Middlesex and leaving the home supporters remembering the occasion rather than the performance of their side.
Ruislip seemed to be feeling the benefit of the one league game under their belt as they were a yard faster than Pennant in the early stages and could even have scored in the first minute when Marc Baker had to make a good save at the feet of Paul Cooper.
As we came more into the game, forcing Ruislip to defend for long periods, visiting keeper Holland made two fine saves from Richard Chick and his own central defender.
On 25 minutes we got caught on the break after winning a corner. As the counter attack stretched the home defence Cooper was unmarked and able to pick his spot to beat the unprotected Baker.
Pennant were straight back on the offensive and Holland made two more excellent saves from Ben Barnett and John Varney, but with two minutes to go to half time we were caught again on the counter attack that saw Cooper’s shot roll under Baker’s body for McDonagh to slide the ball into an empty net.
Pennant used all their substitutes in the second half, but pulled a goal back in injury time when Pat Staunton fired home a thirty yard free kick. He had achieved a similar feat ten minutes earlier but it was ruled out because the Ruislip wall wasn’t far enough back! It was just one of those days.
We also picked up bookings for Chick, Edwards and O’Neill to add to our woes.