It's a funny old game...

Round one of the MMI Cup and the opposition was league 1 rivals Shielton Athletic. The pitch was is good condition and the game started with a fairly end to end to contest. The ref decided to spice things up by giving a seriously fortunate penalty decision!!! Definitely a case of ball to hand and with his hand by his side, Paddy could not be blamed for this one. They tucked it away, 1-0 to Sandford. 

This woke up Balally and after a couple of minutes of pressure a very strange thing happened. Two Sandford players had a bit of a barney with each other. There was a lot of pushing and hands were raised. Not sure if there was any actual punches thrown but the ref showed both red cards. Sandford would have to play the last 70-75 minutes with 9 men. 

Balally relaxed and tried to play football but we were a little rushed and anxious until the first goal went in. The 2nd came quick after and the 3rd came just before half time. 

The second half started with the Sandford lads really getting stuck in and putting up a good fight. They had nothing to lose at 3-1 down and played like it. Balally took the foot off the pedal and were very lax with passing and finishing. We must have missed 4 easy chances but Sandford kept plugging away. They did get one back but it was rightly called off-side. The ref was in a perfect position to call it and there wasn't much argument. 

Balally got their 4th when Erwin rounded the keeper taking at least 39 touches before slotting into an empty net.

The game turned a little sour with a few dirty tackles. One in particular put Paddy out of action reducing us to 10 men as all three substitutions had been made. Shortly after this Ray got his marching orders for throwing a punch! No arguments from us. 

I'm sure our league meetings with Sandford will be a closer affair if both teams can keep their players on the pitch.

Goals: Paddy 2, Dave, Erwin