APSA winless run continues

Essex Senior League

London APSA 0 Barkingside 3

A POOR performance cost London APSA dear as their winless run continued against Barkingside on Saturday.

Now boss John Higley has warned his players they could face the chop if they don’t improve.

The Newham-based side never really came out of the blocks in the first half, although it took 38 minutes for Tony Fenn’s men to take the lead through striker Ryan Imbert, despite their dominance at the Terence McMillan stadium.

“We were absolutely dreadful and there cannot be any excuses, we had a full side out on Saturday and it was terrible to be associated with it,” said Higley.

“There was no enthusiasm and almost every decision they made on the pitch was the wrong one.

“It could have been worse if it was not for our keeper, but everything that could go wrong did on Saturday.

“There will be some changes ahead of both games this week and they will continue until we show signs of improvement.”

Once the deadlock was broken there was no coming back for the hosts despite Brown pulling off a couple of saves to keep John Higley’s men in the game.

Ryan Imbert finally opened the scoring in the 38th minute when the hosts failed to clear their box after a scramble and Imbert fired past Brown from 12-yards out.

Three minutes later, after Brown had palmed away yet another fierce shot from inside the box, the ball landed at the feet of Imbert’s strike partner Dean Nyman, who kept his composure and found the net.

The same player would kill the game off half-way into the second half with his second of the match.

Higley’s side face two games in three days as they host Southend Manor in the Essex Senior League Cup group game tomorrow (Thursday), before playing hosts to Eton Manor on Saturday.

They cannot progress in the cup no matter what the result is against the Southchurch Park although the APSA boss is keen for things to turn around for their league clash at the weekend.

“After such a good start this run we are on is difficult, for everyone,” said Higley.

“There can be no excuses from now on and people need to start putting in the work rate.

“Even if you are not performing it is still possible to get a result if you work hard together as a team and things need to change before we get into the second half of the season.”

APSA: Brown, John Langton, Callaway, Fery, Simmons, Jamie Langton, Lee (Adi), Bly, Scott (O’Keefe), Hind, Akpele (Siloko).