‘Brilliant’ Baffins get derby bragging rights
Rovers deliver in front of bumper crowd to defeat rivals Moneyfields
Shaun Wilkinson saluted 'brilliant' Baffins Milton Rovers as they secured a 2-0 Wessex League Premier Division derby triumph over Portsmouth rivals Moneyfields last night.
Striker Jason Parish, who only sealed his return to the club from Bognor earlier in the day, and substitute Rudi Blankson struck in either half as Baffins claimed a third successive victory in all competitions.
But for Moneyfields, they saw their 100 per cent start to life in the Wessex Premier ended in front of a bumper crowd of 503 at the PMC Stadium.
Baffins boss Wilkinson felt it was a great evening for Baffins Milton Rovers as a whole and was delighted how his side executed their gameplan.
He said: ‘It was a brilliant night for the football club. You look around the ground, I’ve never seen it so busy, and we obviously got the result - I’m well happy.
‘I went to watch them play and I hadn’t seen a team press them, so we went and pressed them high and I thought they gave us the ball.
‘First half we were well on top, should have been 3-0 up, their keeper has made two greats saves.
‘They put us under a lot of pressure (second half), they hit the bar, put a lot of balls in our box but credit to our keeper and back four - they just kept heading them away and doing what they’re in there to do.’
Baffins made much the brighter start and Parish needed just seven minutes to get off the mark in his second spell at the club.
The former Bognor and AFC Portchester striker got in behind defender Tom Cain too easily before slotting into the far corner.
Moneys had goalkeeper Tom Price to thank as he made a great save from
Tommy Scutt's header, while Parish failed to get a clean connection on Charlie Williamson's cross as the hosts piled the pressure on.
Moneyfields were much improved in the second half and Dec Seiden rattled a fierce strike against the crossbar two minutes after the restart.
But Baffins remained resilient and got the all important second goal on 87 minutes.
Substitute Billy Connor used his pace down the right to tee up Blankson who fired home following his introduction.
Williamson then made a brilliant recovering block to keep out Seiden's goalbound effort in stoppagetime as Baffins preserved their clean sheet. Moneyfields boss Glenn Turnbull was left ruing his side's sluggish start as they suffered derby defeat.
He said: ‘I think if you make too many mistakes and start like we did in the first half, not enough quality around the pitch, you come away with that, really.
‘It is what it is, it’s not the end of the world, the lads are down but it’s one game.
‘We asked for a reaction at half time and I think we got it. If one of those chances goes in during that first 20 minutes of the second half it would have changed the game.’
Baffins Milton Rovers: Szymaniak; Williamson, Sanders, Molyneaux, Lloyd, Sargeant, Cowan, Scutt, Johnston, Everett, Parish. Subs: Connor (Everett, 62), Blankson (Johnston, 78), Przespolewski (Lloyd, 83), Gee, Smith. Moneyfields: Price; Birmingham, Cain, Mound, Evans, McGlinchey, Glenn, Hazell, Franklyn, Todd, Seiden. Subs: Norton (Todd, 39), Pile (McGlinchey, 78), Turnbull, Kyle, Penfold.