WINGATE & FINCHLEY 1 HORNCHURCH 0 - One goal settles it

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Saturday 30-August-2014

WINGATE & FINCHLEY  1  HORNCHURCH  0

 

WF – Bobby Smith – Mark Goodman – Ronayne Marsh-Brown – Stuart Lake – Kieron Street – Marc Weatherstone – David Knight – Tommy Tejan-Sie © - Rob Laney (Ahmet Rijat 59) – Leon Fisher (James Kaloczi 83) – Karl Olayide (Scott Shulton 40)

Subs – Paul Wright – Nico Muir

 

HFC – Sam Mott – Courtney Homans  (Moses Ashikodi 67) – Alex Bentley – Elliot Styles © - Omar Beckles – Frankie Curley – Junior Luke –Tom Davis – Tobi Joseph (Elyon Marshall-Katung 79) – George Purcell – Chris Bourne (Junior Dadson 76)

Subs –Frank Griffiths - Phil Starkey

 

 

Bookings – Shulton 44 (W) - Marsh-Brown 45+2 (W) – Bentley 46 (H) - Laney 48(W) - Knight 64 (W) - Street 80 (W) – Curley 80 (H) – Marshall-Katung 89 (H)

 

Scorer – Olayide 18

 

Attendance 131

Officials – Dan Robathan with John Wynne and Stuart Pater

Duration – 46.54 + 48.54

Weather – 16 degrees, cloudy

 

 

WINGATE & FINCHLEY  1  HORNCHURCH  0

 

Hornchurch again suffered a single goal defeat despite once again having several opportunities to move into an unassailable lead, in a match that was once again dominated by a mass of yellow cards.

 

Hornchurch made a powerful start – Alex Bentley fed the ball along to Chris Bourne, and Tobi Joseph ran on to head goalwards, only for the ball to be scrambled away.

 

The next move saw Joseph playing the ball out to Bourne, and his centre was headed away by Ronayne Marsh-Brown, as far as George Purcell, whose first time shot went over the bar.

 

Hornchurch continued to threaten and a Bentley – Bourne move ended when Mark Goodman conceded a corner, which Tom Davis sent over a fraction too low and the ball was cleared up field.

 

Purcell became the first of many visiting players to be brought down as he tried to work a way through – though no yellow card followed – and Purcell himself took the free kick which cannoned back off the wall.

 

Tom Davis fired a shot wide of the goal, from a long throw by Junior Luke, and Hornchurch continued to press forward – until a Chris Bourne corner was punted to safety, and Marsh-Brown played the ball along the left wing, where KARL OLAYIDE ran inside of Courtney Homans and lobbed the ball over a surprised Sam Mott, who could only watch as it dropped slowly into the net.

 

Hornchurch came back quickly, when Junior Luke moved in from the right, only to be brought down on the edge of the area – again, no yellow card – Chris Bourne took the free kick, which was blocked by a defender close to the goal line.

 

Wingate came more into the game when David Knight made a good run, forcing Elliot Styles to concede a corner, which was sent over, partly cleared as far as Knight, who then volleyed the ball high and over the bar.

 

Wingate went close when a Rob Laney shot, from a corner, was cleared off the line for another corner.

 

Bentley and Bourne continued to combine well, and Bourne was unlucky when he cut inside and his shot hit the side netting.

 

A Junior Luke header was tipped over by Bobby Smith as the half drew to a close, and at last out came the yellow card, firstly for Scott Shulton and then for Ronanye Marsh-Brown.

 

There was a slow start to the second half, and until the 55^th minute when Bourne opened up the defence to feed the ball inside to Purcell, whose shot was well saved by Bobby Smith.

 

At the other end Mott made an excellent save from Olayide who had moved in quickly from the right, and from the resulting corner Bourne headed the ball off the line. The ball was played back to Knight whose first time attempt bounced onto the bar and over.

 

Moses Ashikodi came on for Homans, and a cross from Tommy Tejan-Sie was cleared as Hornchurch were reorganising in defence, with Luke dropping back on the right.

 

Hornchurch came forward again, with Purcell firing wide from a Tobi Joseph cross.

 

Junior Dadson and Elyon Marshall-Katung came on to boost the forward line, and Wingate survived a series of long throws from Junior Luke, from the last of which Smith made an excellent save to keep out a hard goal-bound shot from Tom Davis.

 

As Hornchurch threw players forward in stoppage time – just four minutes were added, despite the many interruptions in play – several players were involved in a melee almost on the goal line, which surprisingly went uncarded as the home side defended desperately to maintain their single goal advantage.