ESCAPE TO VICTORY!
Glory Glory Bankana are the words on everybody’s lips after a magnificent brace of victories yesterday evening. The return of their illustrious captain Ryan Shaw injected a renewed spirit within the camp as they kicked off again for the second time this season against Southwark Lions. And much like the first encounter between the two, The Bank dominated the game from start to finish. McCullough opened the scoring after 4 minutes and the lead was soon doubled when Chris Collett grabbed his first goal of the season with a tidy finish. McCullough grabbed his second of the game shortly after but there was no question as to whose was goal of the game, Nick Jowitt, slamming home a volley from an extremely tight angle into the top corner. ‘The cat’ Horton will be disappointed not to have maintained a clean sheet, but there was little he could do after the ref awarded what can only be described as a dodgy pen. The game was neatly rounded off when Il Capitano scored to cap an outstanding team performance.
Echoes of Thermopylae resonated in the atmosphere as The Bank took to pitch again for the second game of the evening, this time against a far sterner opposition in London Spartans. But unlike Xerxes hordes The Bank would only require an army of 5 to defeat the Spartans. The war cry of Ryan Shaw rang out loud and clear and his gallant troops heeded the call. The indefatigable Ev ‘The Terrier’ Olgun continued to hound and harass the opposition, happily hacking away at their ankles, much to the opposition’s annoyance. Chris ‘Thirty Goals’ Collett battled bravely upfront acting as a fulcrum for Bankana’s attacks as Shaw bossed the midfield. Crisp, slick passing and flowing movement tore the Spartans apart early on, but their keeper was equal to the task. Any tensions were soon dispersed however, when a sumptuous free flowing move led to the first goal. A second followed, as The Bank again cleverly knocked it about, feeding the ball out to McCullough on the left who promptly dispatched the ball into the corner.
The second goal seemed to spark the Spartans back into life as they marauded forward, grabbing themselves a goal and it could have easily been two had it not been for the heroics of Mitch Horton.
Moments later the red mist descended as Collette was unceremoniously hurled to the floor after a poor challenge from one of the Spartans. The ref sin-binned the player, much to an incensed Collett’s satisfaction, but The Bank were unable to take advantage of the extra man as the game moved into the closing stages. The match became increasingly nervy, but Bankana held on courageously to claim the three points and re-ignite their title challenge.
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