Haywards FC 1 vs 5 Orpington Athletic

Orpington Athletic returned to the top 2 in the MSFL Division 3 this weekend, with another resounding victory against Haywards FC. Despite playing a full half with 10 men, Orpington restricted Haywards at almost every opportunity and saw 5 players named on the score sheet at full time.

Orpington have had a good track record against Haywards in recent seasons and the first half of the match was a reflection of this. Centre back, Austin Facer scored his second goal of the season in as many games to open Orpington's account and despite a wobble at the back, allowing a Haywards equaliser, Orpington tucked away 3 more courtesy of Oral Graham, Mike Adamou and Tejiri Kode.

However, the half ended on a sour note, with Graham retaliating to a suspected Haywards' headbutt, which saw the Orpington forward dismissed from the field.

In the second half, Orpington got to grips with a slightly tweaked approach and, had it not been for some great goalkeeping by the Haywards stopper, could have been out of sight before the hour mark. Nick Adamou rounded off the scoring after finding himself unmarked in the box and Orpington were momentarily reduced to 9 men with Ryan Hardie receiving Orpington's first 'sin bin' of the season.

Still, Orpington were untested and saw the game out comfortably to secure another vital 3 points in their push for promotion. Orpington will take a week's break, before resuming for their final game of 2019 on December 15th.