Crusaders hit late double to defeat Centurions

This was another game badly affected by the strong wind, with both sides finding it difficult to master the conditions, but we came through in the end, despite the controversial decision to disallow what appeared to be a legitimate equaliser midway through the second half, before we finally clinched the win late in the game.
We were set to face a blustery wind which blew diagonally across the pitch, but had a good chance early on when Nat Jarvis was off target when Alan O’Brien found him with a good pass, but after 16 minutes a perfect cross from Gary Horgan allowed him to score with a good diving header. The lead did not last long however for the home side equalised with a terrific 25 yard volley from James Mortimer- Jones which gave Paul Strudley no chance. The Centurions now began to take advantage of the wind and did most of the attacking, several long-range shots whizzing past the post as we struggled to keep them at bay. Strudley was frequently in action, but we managed to keep the scores level hoping for better conditions after the interval, although Stefan Brown’s shot was blocked and he headed the rebound over the bar in one of our infrequent attacks.
Although the wind abated a little, it was still a considerable factor, and we hoped to benefit in the second half but we had a disastrous start when James Clark was adjudged to have brought down Zak Kowica and althougn Strudley saved Charlie Griffin’s penalty Ross Langworthy knocked in the rebound, We found it difficult to get the right weight on the passes, finding a colleague proving a constant problem, but we appeared to have equalised when O’Brien fired in a free-kick which deceived Glyn Garner and flew into the net without a touch from anyone. The referee appeared to point to the middle, but the linesman’s flag was raised, presumably for offside against one of the forwards, although no one had got near it and suggestions that it was an indirect free-kick were certainly incorrect. Anyway , complaints from the Hungerford bench were ignored and the “goal” was ruled out
In the end it did not matter, for Brown was on hand to level the scores after a prolonged Hungerford attack with just over 10 minutes to go and we notched a spectacular winner after 82 minutes, Ian Herring sent O’Brien away on the left and his perfect head-high cross saw Jarvis heading powerfully past Garner to claim the points, our 8th. win in the last 10 games in which we are unbeaten.
Team; Strudley, Horgan (Goodger), Tyler , Boardman, Day, Rusby, Clark, Herring, Jarvis, Brown, O;Brien( Stow ) Subs;Draycott, Jones, John.