Bottom of the table Westdene 2nd stunned MJSL champions Haroldeans with some superb defending allied to ruthlessness on the counter attack.
Daniel Klapish scored both Westdene goals, with Haroldeans getting a goal back from Jamie Harris. The home side’s manager Ivan Gee felt his side dominated but that the visitors deserved the win.
“Haroldeans had about 80-90% of the play but we could not score. They played well. Their goalkeeper was very good and Klapish is fabulous, a very good player.”
Haroldeans made most of the running and had openings but failed to take advantage of them, as a determined rearguard from Westdene kept the home team out. They then stunned their opponents as Klapish stole in to prod home after a free kick eluded the Haroldeans defence after 20 minutes.
With Haroldeans committing men to their attack they instead fell further behind in the second half as Klapish took advantage of Haroldeans being light at the back as he ran with the ball from halfway before rounding the goalkeeper to score.
Jamie Harris finally got the goal Haroldeans had been searching for late on when he tapped in a cross, but they were unable to draw level, hitting the bar, seeing a shot cleared off the line. Daniel Caplin in the Westdene goal performed heroically to keep out everything the home team could throw at him, including a point blank save from James Hudaly late on. delight manager Paul Levy.
“The team spirit was excellent, it was a cracking game of football and we were the better team. Our goalie was excellent. He’s a man mountain but he has only just started goalkeeping.”