A week ago, Feltonmix Metro stood within six games of winning the Bluebird Premier League - Chatham Cup double for 1998. Top of the league, they were favoured to beat Central United in the knockout competition's semi-final and advance to their first-ever Chatham Cup Final.
But as we all know, the cup holders had other ideas on that subject, and Metro's double dreams are now but distant memories. Now, a week on, their championship ambitions are in danger of following suit after their August 21 clash against Fencibles United at Albie Turner Field, a match won 4-2 by the visitors.
There were plenty of twists and turns along the way before this one was decided, however. With Carl Jorgensen and Danny McHenery both out through suspension, Metro welcomed Hoani Edwards back to stoke the boilers in midfield, and he played as if he'd never been forced out through illness and injury.
"H" fired the first salvo in this captivating fixture narrowly over the top in the fifth minute, after Nigel Curties had caught Nobby Stiles in possession inside his own penalty area. Soon after, Steve Nickson set his sights with a fine 25-yard volley on the turn which only just missed making contact with Nick Lange's left-hand upright.
Then it was the turn of John Lawler to go close in the tenth minute, as Metro poured on the early pressure. A teasing Willie Thompson cross saw Stiles endeavouring to find out Nickson's shirt size as the pair jostled to head the dropping ball. It fell kindly for Lawler, whose stooping header flummoxed the close-at-hand Lange, only to hit the post and bounce kindly for Kara Waetford to clear the danger.
Fencibles survived this early onslaught, and their defensive nerves soon settled, allowing United to launch some attacks of their own. With their very first raid of note, they hit the front in the 22nd minute with a rather bizarre strike.
Waetford sent Nik Viljoen scooting down the right, and the All White whipped in a cross for Slavisa Luscina. Before the striker could meet it, however, the ball swerved away from him and beyond the bemused figure of Grant Schofield, eventually finding a suitable resting place in the bottom far corner of the net - United 1-0, Schofield not the only person present to be caught out by Viljoen's deceptive delivery.
Five minutes later, Luscina should have added a second goal. Shane Gillies sent Viljoen down the left this time, and his cross was too good for Schofield. But Luscina, with the goal at his mercy, somehow contrived to send the ball flying over the angle, much to Metro's relief.
The home team gradually got on top of things again, and in the 39th minute, a fine Willie Thompson cross had Lawler and Stuart Davidson as its most likely recipients. Neither made the most of the chance however, Curties instead storming in to unleash a drive which required two attempts from Lange to keep out.
There were elements of ping-pong about the game at times, as both teams looked to build play, only to pass the ball straight to opponent, who responded in kind. But Fencibles put together a 43rd minute move which rocked Metro to the core.
Again Viljoen created the opening down the left, and his resulting cross allowed Mike Laustsen to strike the sweetest of volleys past Schofield to increase United's lead still further.
It could have been 3-0 just before the break, as Waetford sent Viljoen scampering through Metro's ponderous defence yet again. The All White rounded Schofield before laying the ball back into Guy Reeves' path, only for the midfielder's strike to swerve away from the far post.
Sean Hird read the riot act to his team at half-time, and straight from the kick-off, Metro responded with one of the easiest goals John Van Dort will ever score, Fencibles failing to mark him as Jason Thompson's corner arced into their penalty area.
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Driven on by the goal, Metro pressed on for a second strike, the visitors finding themselves firmly penned inside their own half as their hosts poured on the pressure. It had to pay off sooner or later, and on the hour, the scores were level.
Willie Thompson cut in from the right and hit a dipping thirty yard drive which Lange, at full stretch, tipped over the crossbar. The shooter took the corner, which Fencibles again failed to clear. This time, the ball fell to Nickson, who lifted it back into the danger zone where Curties was on hand to head home, the ball crossing the line before Fencibles' efforts to effect a goal-line clearance proved fruitful.
With the scent of victory in their nostrils, Metro went for the jugular, Nickson narrowly astray with a long-range effort in the 65th minute. Soon after, Lange sent Lawler tumbling on the edge
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of the penalty area, as the stand-in striker homed in on goal with the 'keeper and two defenders still to beat.
The home team's efforts to complete a come-from-behind victory were blown asunder in the 77th minute, however, as Fencibles launched a counter-attack which restored their lead. Luscina gathered the ball inside his own half and surged through Metro's defence, only to be foiled by Schofield, the 'keeper parrying his shot. Laustsen was following up, and forced his shot home, despite the attentions of the custodian and Shaun O'Mara, who beat a hasty retreat towards the gaping goal in vain.
Any hopes Metro had of mounting another comeback were shattered in the 83rd minute, when Lawler and Nickson were both shown the red card by referee Derek Rugg.
In the 56th minute, Nickson had gone down in a screaming heap following a rash Gillies challenge which earned the defender a yellow card. Lawler's lunge, ironically on Gillies, appeared to be similar to the defender's earlier effort, but the official thought otherwise, and off the Metro man trudged, with Nickson hard on his heels, having warmed the cold night air with a choice expletive or three regarding the issue of consistency.
This incident knocked the stuffing out of the title chasers, and it was no surprise when Fencibles all but confirmed their own place in the 1999 Bluebird Premier League with a fourth goal, struck three minutes from time by Reeves, who beat Metro's under-manned defence to latch onto a through ball from Matt Byers - for mine, the best player on the park throughout this game - and steer it past Schofield.
The 'keeper denied Darren Wise and Byers before the finish, while Willie Thompson, who, along with Edwards, never stopped trying for Metro, caused Lange's heart to flutter briefly in the dying moments. But 4-2 it remained to the visitors, a result which left a huge grin on the face of watching Hamilton Wanderers' player-coach, Darren Fellowes.
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