Albion progressed to the Semi Final of the Edgar German cup with a remarkable comeback victory against Division 1 unbeaten leaders Nutley Wildcats on Saturday.
 
The game was switched to Nutley’s ground after Jane’s Lane was deemed its usual state of unplayable. Turning up to the ground the lads were greeted with a decent surface which they were advised hadn’t been played on since the beginning of December.
 
The size of the task for Albion was known from the off, with their unbeaten opponents starting at a high tempo and giving the back four of Dan Strange, Martin and Dan Woods, and Seb Chick a lot to do in front of Peter Billinghay in the Albion goal. At the other end Albion had a half chance when Logan Newington’s cross found the head of Ollie Toynbee, but the midfielder was stretching and was unable to flick the ball towards goal. Albion were a bit sloppy in possession, with the slope they were playing down not helping when marginally over hit passes would roll on to the opposing keeper or off for goal kicks and throw ins.
 
An example of this sloppy play was to undo Albion midway through the half when possession was lost in their own half, the forward players of the hosts reacted swiftly, getting the ball to their left winger in the box, who took a great touch to turn and then slammed the ball across goal into the far corner, giving them the lead.
 
Before Albion had got themselves together they were 2 down, as some good play down the right side led to a cross to the far post where the scorer of the first goal was on hand to rifle in a sublime left footed volley, leaving Billinghay with no chance.
 
The hosts were feeling confident, but Albion reacted well to the deficit and started to put some good moves together in search of a goal back before the break. Dan Woods had already had a header well saved from a free kick before he got his head on a Luke Vick corner a minute before the interval, the ball was flicked on by Toynbee which the keeper saved but couldn’t hold, spilling the ball at the feet of the grateful Shaun Kevern who rolled the ball home from all of 2 yards. This was a great boost for the visitors and definitely took Nutley by surprised, visibly annoyed at conceding before the break.
 
At half time Albion knew that they were well in the game and that if they could keep the tempo up they had a chance of getting back in the cup tie.
 
It was a very quick start from Albion, with the industrious Hugo Whitehouse finding himself some space in the box and firing narrowly over the bar, there were also half chances for Kevern, Chris Deare and Newington but a mixture of good defending and poor contact meant  the score remained 2-1. Albion had dominated the first 20 minutes of the second half without getting the goal their play merited when against the run of play, a mis-hit shot from a Nutley midfielder found its way to their attacker in good space and he turned and delivered a very composed finish from 14 yards, curling the ball into the far corner for 3-1.  
 
This took the wind out of Albion’s sails a bit, and it could have got worse for them when a ball over the top saw Billinghay rush out of goal, stumble comically over it but just manage to get it out of play just before their striker got near enough to intercept.
 
With about 20 minutes to go Albion rang the changes, with Jack Humphries, Gus Grant and Ryan John all entering the fray and there was a change of tactic, with John pushing up front alongside Kevern. All subs came on with fresh legs and looked to give the visitors back the fight which for 5 or 10 minutes after the 3rd goal had been taken out of them a little. Half chances started to be created and some good phases of passing started to build up and suddenly they were back on their game, although with time running out Nutley still felt their victory was comfortable.
 
It was with 7 minutes remaining that Albion grabbed a goal back, with some good football between Newington and Whitehouse allowed Ryan John space in the box, he unselfishly squared for Kevern in the middle who was left with a simple finish from 8 yards. Albion could sense an equaliser at this stage and the energy levels increased again, with the Woods brothers, Humphries, Vick and Whitehouse in particular battling hard through the centre, with Whitehouse being the man who started the move which would ultimately take the game to extra time. It was in added on time when he found Kevern in the middle of the pitch and Kevern played the ball on for Newington, who found a yard on his man and lifted the ball superbly over the onrushing keeper and into the net for 3-3. The comeback shell shocking their opponents who for 80odd minutes thought they had the game in the bag.
 
Extra time is always a battle of tired minds, but the fresh legs of the Albion substitutes, John in particular, had Albion in the front foot for the majority of the first half without really creating any chances of note. The second half started much the same, with the game seemingly heading for penalties before MOM John found the ball in good space outside the box, again unselfishly squaring the ball, this time to the onrushing Grant who showed great composure in taking the shot first time and sliding the ball under the keeper and into the net with 10 minutes remaining.
 
The remainder of the game saw Albion under the cosh, especially the last 5 minutes or so with Nutley getting set piece after set piece which had the Albion back line stretched to their limits but the attacks were rebuffed at each occasion.
 
The last minute of the game had Albion’s hearts in mouths as a free kick was given away in a dangerous area and a well placed delivery was again swung into the Albion box, through the crowd of bodies came Keeper Billinghay to smash an unorthodox right footed volley out to the side lines to remove the danger and signal the end of the game.
 
There was a great buzz in the changing room after the game with the lads knowing that they had defied the odds to reach the Semi Final against a very strong opponent.
 
A great squad performance with every one of the 14 contributing to the end result. The lateness of the turnaround was signified when the owner of the pub across the road who had apparently left the game early was determined that we had been ‘stuffed 3-1’! He was disappointed when he learned we weren’t pulling his leg.
 
Onto another cup quarter final this week with another journey to Crawley to play the Devils.