APSA boss happy to have home comforts after nine-month exile
Kirk Blows
Thursday, January 10, 2013
3.00 PM
London APSA boss Zakir Hussain insists it was “brilliant” for his side to return to the Terence McMillan Stadium for the 3-1 defeat by Takeley but admits it will take time for it to feel like “home” again.
APSA had been forced to play at Clapton and Aveley while the stadium was used as an Olympic training facility, but made their first outing at the venue since April 2011 on Saturday.
And even though the Essex Senior League side failed to avoid defeat, their manager is hoping they can start enjoying some home comforts.
Hussain said: “It was brilliant to go back home again and it felt so much better.
“We’ve only got a couple of players who were with us when we last played at the stadium so it’s a new experience for most of them.
“It will take a while for it to feel like home for them, but from my point of view it was good to be back.”
Struggling APSA got off to the best possible start when Richard Villotta fired them ahead in the second minute.
But promotion-chasing Takeley leveled on 15 minutes through Anton Collins, before Reece Dobson put them ahead shortly before the break.
Greig Taylor then made it 3-1 to the visitors seven minutes into the second period and that proved more than enough for them to claim the points.
Hussain believes Takeley were worth their win, but was frustrated that his side didn’t do better.
He said: “We scored a good early goal and that gave us confidence.
“We controlled the opening 20 minutes and managed to prevent the opposition from creating early chances.
“But Takeley are a good side and once they equalised we fell apart a bit.
“I think they probably deserved their victory, but we should have done better with their second goal.
“I was also unhappy with their third goal because I didn’t agree with the referee’s decision to give them a free-kick.
“We had a couple of chances to score in the second half that we didn’t take full advantage of and that was also disappointing.”