Season 2012-13

This match report has only recently been officially recognised as a legitimate Polska game (and result).

MDH thoroughly deserved the win, and being 2-0 up at half time, went on to win with a last minute penalty, despite Radek Gaglewski himself giving Polska a 2-1 lifeline on 88 minutes. Prior to that he had hit the post, and at one point it looked possible that Polska may have made it 2-2 which would have been hugely unfair on the hosts who were by far the better side, as Polska put in their worst performance of the season. It was surprising to read on the MDH website match report of a number of instances of Polska players diving, which was not the case. The referee - who had a good game - cautioned a number of MDH players for dissent, whilst this has been interpreted as all decisions going Polska's way. No matter, the better team won on the day.

After this match, Polska were informed that MDH had played an illegal player in goal and therefore lodged a complaint. Suffice to say that the named goalkeeper was NOT Ben Sparrow, and this was confirmed by the referee who knew the identity of the real keeper of the day. Following a complaint to the Alliance League and then a subsequent hearing at the County FA, the result has only now regrettably been added to the records. On another given day, the complaint may have stood. For reasons that Polska will put down to experience, the illegal player has effectively got away with it. Neither the Alliance League nor the FA have done anything wrong, and the club are content to abide by their decision. Polska received a fair hearing in respect of the league rules being adhered to by the Alliance League and the FA conducted a thorough and fair appeal process which Polska respects. It is difficult to always do the right thing in a unique scenario, but had the club done things slightly differently, we feel this game would have been replayed. The club would like to extend its sincere thanks to the match referee who was happy to support the notion of an illegal player being played without prejudice and maintained his neutrality throughout.

Polska are disappointed that a club of MDH's stature, for whom we are respectful, sought to resort to such methods when producing their players, and it is regretful that in this instance, they managed to successfully negotiate a fixture under such circumstances. Also a sad aspect of the game is their flat denial that any wrongdoing took place. The club moves on from this, and will hopefully see justice done in the home fixture!