Albion secured another big 3 points this weekend, coming back from a half time deficit to overcome their opponents in a scrappy game at Janes Lane.
　
On a surface which whilst playable, wasn’t great for a flowing passing game, Albion started OK, seeing a lot of the ball and creating a few problems for their opponents, with a Chris Deare effort from outside the box going narrowly over the bar, the only effort of note early on. At the other end the back four of Dan Strange, Martin Woods, Dan Woods and Seb Chick started solidly and had kept the Cobras from testing Pat Gannon in the first third of the game also.
　
The first half sprang to life on the half hour mark when a great slide pass from Ollie Toynbee sent Hugo Whitehouse through in the box, he got to the ball before the defender who bundled him over, leaving the referee with no choice but to award a penalty. Shaun Kevern stepped up and sent the keeper the wrong way to give Albion the lead.
　
This didn’t last for long however, as their tricky attacker found himself one on one with Martin just inside the box, a good piece of footwork from him led to a foul, once again leaving the referee with little choice but to award the spot kick. The kick was calmly slotted home to level things up.
　
At this point Cobras had their tails up and were ahead before half time when a free kick was whipped in and met by a venomous header from their midfielder which found the roof of the net for 2-1.
　
Albion responded to this with a few efforts which nearly levelled it up again, with Toynbee having a scuffed effort correctly ruled out for offside, followed by a slice of luck for the visitors when Logan Newington drilled a low ball across goal which somehow evaded strong contact from anyone in the melee of players in the 6 yard box. Cobra’s being Fangful when the half time whistle was blown.
　
At half time there were some stern words and Albion knew that they needed to step it up a gear and get a bit more bite in their play to overcome their opponents.
　
The second half started positively for Albion who twice could have drawn level with both opportunities falling to Kevern who, once from a Luke Vick free kick and another from a　 rebound after a Vick strike on goal, was unable to find the target, firing over on both occasions.
　
The pressure told on the hour mark though as MOM Toynbee struck from 25 yards with precision and found the net in off the inside of the post to make it 2-2. Soon after this, the scale of Cobra’s task of getting points out of the game became tougher as their goalscorer lost his head and saw red for a reaction to a mistimed Toynbee challenge.
　
Against the 10 men was no easy feat as the Cobras still had plenty of fight in them, but their resilience was broken when a good move down the left hand side led to Strange cutting the ball into the box for Whitehouse who surprised the keeper with a prodded effort in at the near post which found the net off the inside of the post. A goal which was deserved for his endeavour throughout the game.
　
This could have seen the Cobras curl up and die, but no such thing happened, the remaining 20 minutes was played out with half chances for either side, with Ryan John and Gus Grant both coming close for Albion and Cobras nearly nicking a point with a free kick which nearly deceived Gannon but ended up over the bar via a deflection off the crossbar.
　
Another win for Albion which sees them currently 9 points clear at the top, but with the teams below with games in hand this lead is likely to be less in reality.
　
Next up for Albion weather permitting is a cup game at Janes Lane against Crawley Devils, which could be a hellish encounter if they do not step up their performance from this week…