Bryan returns with a goal as Ardley pick up three points

A dominant first half display put Ardley firmly on the road to three points against Milton United in Saturday’s premier division contest in which Troy Bryan marked his comeback with a goal.

The Ardley players made light of the testing conditions as they raced into a two-goal lead that they never looked likely to surrender. A terrific 50 yard cross-field pass from Jacob Daffern found Elias Katsoloudi running through the inside left channel and he calmly drew Milton keeper Craig Griffiths forward before lobbing him from the edge of the box into an empty net.

With 20 minutes gone, Ardley doubled their lead when Daffern left Griffiths on the seat of his pants and again provided a pass which gave the unmarked Ade Talabi the simplest of chances to score. A minute later Daffern was unfortunate not score himself but his shot went just the wrong side of the post.

Talabi and Reece Bayliss also went close while Milton’s best chance of the half came three minutes before the break when Ardley keeper Kieran Beesley dived full length to keep out a 25 yard free-kick.

The second half was a more even contest in terms of possession but neither side were able to seriously challenge either keeper for much of it. In the 76th minute Daffern’s drive from a corner was kept out by Griffiths and from the resultant corner Bradley Cox headed narrowly over the bar.

With six minutes of normal time remaining, substitute Bryan, playing his first game for almost two months through injury, was set free by Katsoloudi’s through ball and he made no mistake by slotting the ball past Griffiths.

On the stroke of fulltime, Milton pulled a goal back from a penalty awarded for a handball but that was merely a consolation as the home side saw out several minutes of additional-time to claim three valuable points to haul them a little further up the league table.