If you thought the weekend’s shenanigans were entertaining enough, just you wait you lucky devils as I bring you all the action from a goal feasted, incident packed Bank Holiday Monday programme of football. Beginning with an unlikely thriller at Mill Field.
Sabola Grinds Down Millers
Aveley 3-3 Concord Rangers (Prediction 2-1)
A chaotic last 10 minutes at Mill Field saw both Concord and Aveley share the points in six goal thriller leaving both sides in the bottom four and still seeking their first win of the season. Lee Perry gave the home side a 6th minute lead before Sherwin Stanley netted the first of his brace before half time to give the Millers hope of their first win. After the break Michael Noone converted a penalty to reduce the arrears before all hell broke loose late on. Nicky Cowley equalised for the Beachboys on 84 minutes and looked to have salvaged a point before Stanley converted a spot kick of his own to seemingly give Aveley the points. Credit to Concord though who kept going and got their reward late in stoppage time when debutant Dan Sabola equalised again,this time definitely ensuring a share of the points.
Knight Rides to Ricay’s Rescue
Billericay Town 4-4 Bury Town (Prediction 1-1)
Fans at Mill Field were left feeling a little short changed as the goal infestation moved up the A12 to New Lodge where Billericay and Bury shared 8 goals between them. The away side, fresh from their 5 goal haul over Hastings quickly hit their stride and took the lead when Lee Reed converted a pass from brother Sam just 7 minutes in. Former Greens midfielder Sam Berry got the home side back on terms with a deflected free kick 20 minutes later with his first goal for the club and 10 minutes later, David Knight scored his first goal for ‘Ricay after a smart move by the home side. Steve Smith ensured the two sides went into the break level seizing on a parry by Nick Morgan from Sam Reed’s effort.
After the break Karl Leabon netted his 2nd goal of the weekend following up after Sam Reed’s shot was blocked on the line, before Billericay took control with two goals in six minutes. Knight made it 3-3 when he lobbed Marcus Garnham after getting onto a long through ball before Paul Semakula gave the home side the lead again with 18 minutes remaining finishing after Garnham saved from Jay May. Parity, and a deserved share of the spoils were secured for the Suffolk side with 10 minutes remaining when Sam Reed finally got his name on the scoresheet following up Lee Reed’s blocked effort.
Phew! Breathless stuff.
Rob Spot King Again As Gulls Soar
Canvey Island 1-0 East Thurrock United (Prediction 2-0)
Canvey eventually came out in this hard contested Essex derby against East Thurrock United thanks to another Rob King winner to move into 4th spot in the division and record their third consecutive win. A turgid affair was eventually settled when Kye Ruel was adjudged to have pushed John Easterford over when contesting an Alex Rhodes corner. King coolly sent Richard Wray the wrong way (bit of a tongue twister that) from the spot for his 3rd goal inside a week. The Rocks tried to respond, but apart from a few high balls into the Canvey box that were comfortably dealt with by James Russell as the Gulls held on with a degree of comfort.
Clark Shoots Down Robins
Cray Wanderers 1-0 Carshalton Athletic (Prediction 1-1)
Jack Clark scored the only goal of the game as Cray made it two wins on the spin at Hayes Lane against Carshalton for whom the start to the season lurches towards ‘difficult’. The home side will be delighted with the way they’ve responded to their opening day defeat against AFC Hornchurch where as Carshalton will be concerned at now going without a goal in their last 3 matches. I can’t give you anymore details as I can’t find any anywhere. So, there were 18 red cards, 4 of which were shown to one of the linesman, the Goodyear blimp crashed into the local branch of Lidl and Paul Dipre praised the Robins fans.
Gate Appiah With Point
Hastings United 2-2 Margate (Prediction 1-2)
Kwesi Appiah was the Margate hero as both sides bounced back from heavy weekend defeats with a point and red card apiece. The Margate number 11 opened the scoring on 21 minutes with his 2nd goal of the season tucking home the rebound after Lloyd Anderson saved well from Tom Bradbrook’s free kick. Fred Foreman equalised with his first goal for the club 11 minutes later direct from a free kick before on the stroke of half time, Dan Stubbs was dismissed for stamping on Dan Bolwell. The hosts used the man advantage to take the lead straight after the restart, Josh Jirbandey heading home at the near post from Foreman’s corner. With 20 minutes remaining both the number of players and the scoreline were tied up again as Sean Ray was shown his 2nd yellow card for a handball inside the penalty area and then dismissed, Appiah confidently netted the penalty to ensure a share of the points.
Booth Draws Hornets’ Sting
Horsham 0-1 Lewes (Prediction 1-3)
Paul Booth’s 2nd goal of the season was enough to settle a close Sussex derby extending Lewes’ winning run to 3 matches and bringing Horsham’s own run of form to a shuddering end. The only goal of the game came in the 24th minute when Booth sent a looping header of Matt Armstrong-Ford in the Horsham goal after a strong opening by the away side. Jamie Cade, Booth and Steve Robinson all went close to extending that lead whilst once again Tony Nwachukwu was the main threat for Horsham twice going close just before half time. The Hornets enjoyed a lot of possession after the break but were unable to threaten Stuart Robinson in the Lewes goal, whilst the away side remained dangerous on the break. In the end, the solitary goal was enough, and Lewes fans went home the happier.
Lubo Picks Urchin’s Pockets
Lowestoft Town 2-1 AFC Hornchurch (Prediction 2-0)
The Urchins fell to their third defeat in a row on the east coast as substitute Lubomir Guentchev, not adverse to scoring against the Urchins, netted his 3rd goal of the season late on to settle a tight affair. Fellow sub Matt Nolan opened the scoring just past the hour mark after AFC Hornchurch had perhaps shaded the game before hand, as he ran onto a clearance from a corner and slammed the ball home from outside the penalty area. The lead lasted no more than a dozen minutes before the Urchins drew level, Aaron Gayle guiding Joe Anderson’s cross beyond Andy Reynolds for his first goal of the season. Hornchurch continued to push forwards in pursuit of a winner and were hit by a sucker punch applied by Hendon’s favourite 20 something Bulgarian seized on a half cleared free kick to poke home the winner with what was pretty much the last kick of the game and sending the Trawlerboys up to 2nd in the table.
Traynor Gets K’s Up and Running
Tooting & Mitcham United 1-4 Kingstonian (Prediction 1-3)
A much changed Kingstonian side put in a dominant performance at Imperial Fields to comprehensively beat a Tooting & Mitcham side who were coming off the back of two impressive away wins, having scored 4 times on each occasion. After a good start they found themselves behind here after 16 minutes when Bobby Traynor got on the end of debutant Dewayne Clarke’s astute pass and lifted the ball over the Simon Lekhyj in the Toots goal against the run of play. The lead lasted just 3 minutes however as the home side responded well and Lee Newman squeezed the ball beyond Rob Tolfrey through a gap and into the net. Parity then reigned for just 3 further minutes before Clarke’s cross was met simultaneously by Traynor’s head and the hand of Callum Donaghey. The referee was in no doubt and pointed to the spot, much to Tooting’s disgust, Traynor for his part simply let the fuss die down and slotted the ball into the back of the net.
It wasn’t until the last quarter of an hour that the game was secured in K’s favour. Sub Allan Tait curled a beautiful volley home after another Clarke cross had been knocked down into his path and then 11 minutes from time, Gary MacDonald met Ian Selley’s corner with a bullet header from 15 yards or so out to give the K’s their first win of the season at long last.
Stones Rocked by 10 Men
Wealdstone 2-4 Wingate & Finchley (Prediction 1-1)
Wingate continued their outstanding start to life in the Premier Division with an excellent away win at Grovesnor Vale. They were already a goal up through Leon Smith before they were reduced to 10 men on the quarter hour mark as Joe O’Brien saw red after going through Richard Jolly with studs showing. Nevertheless, the away side continued to push forward and doubled their lead when Smith was left completely unmarked at the far post to nod home his 4th goal in 3 matches from a driven corner. Bobby Smith in the Wingate goal then made a couple of good saves before David Laird made it 3-0 on the stroke of half time after riding a couple of tackles and slotting home. Things went from bad to worse 5 minutes after the break as Wingate made the game safe, the ball being bundled in at the far post by Marc Weatherstone or a Stones defender, depending on where you were stood. Stones gave the scoreline some respectability late on when a foul on Wes Parker in the box gave Richard Jolly the chance to the reduce the arrears. His spot kick was saved by Bobby Smith’s feet but the rebound fell to Jolly who made no mistake from the rebound. Kurtney Brooks then scored an outstanding effort from 25 yards to give the home side a glimmer of hope with 15 minutes remaining but despite plenty of possession, they were unable to force the ball home again and Wingate maintained their 100% record in some style.
Tonight’s Match Preview
Met Police v Leatherhead
The two promoted sides from Division 1 South meet tonight at Imber Court as Met Police play the first of their two games in hand against pointless (as in zero points rather than irrelevant) Leatherhead who will be keen to get themselves off the mark. Tanners boss Mick Sullivan has acted quickly to try and get their season up and running with 3 new faces who all made their debuts on Saturday. Billy Dunn arrives from Tooting, Nathan Simpson from tonight’s opponents Met Police and Saturday’s goalscorer Craig Davies from St. Albans City. The Police for their part will be looking for a repeat of their opening day home win against Harrow Borough and should be reasonably fresh after 7 days without a game. I fancy Leatherhead to get something from this one though.
Prediction: 1-1
No comments:
Post a Comment