WITHAM 2 HORNCHURCH 1 - report

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Saturday 0-March-2015

WITHAM TOWN 2 HORNCHURCH 1

 

WT – Louis Godwin-Green – Conor Mead – Vinnie Durrant – Taylor Hastings – Paul King © - Lewis Dark – Danny Emmanuel – Lewis Godbold – Jamie Guy – Chris bryan – Tom Wraight

Subs – Ryan Blackman – Jack Paxman – Paul White – Nikki Beale – Marcel Francis- Henry

 

HFC – Sam Mott – Courtney Homans – Chris Bourne – Elliot Styles © - Danny Johnson – Frankie Curley – Tobi Joseph – Joey May – Kieran Bishop (Martin Tuohy 53) – George Purcell – Nnamdi Nwachuku (Junior Luke 61)

Subs – Thomas Gogo – Billy Coyne – Billy Roast

 

Officials –

G Ions – referee at Hastings 19/11/11, v Metropolitan Police 31/3/12, at Dulwich 31/8/13 - on line v Fleet 7/10/06, v Northwood 3/11/07, at Dover 3/3/09, at Dartford 28/11/09, v Concord 6/11/10

R Battye – on line v Carshalton 1/10/13

A King – on line v Maidstone 8/3/08, v Billericay 20/9/08, v Tooting 23/11/10, at East Thurrock 9/8/14

 

Scorers – Emmanuel 16 (W) – Purcell 72p (H) – Wraight 85 (W)

Bookings –

Styles 10 (H) – King 48 (W) – King 71 (W) – OFF – second yellow – Johnson 90 (H)

Duration – 47.00 + 49.00

Weather – sunny, 15 degrees, wind speed up to 20 mph

 

 

WITHAM TOWN 2 HORNCHURCH 1

 

Both teams needed to win and it was the home side that achieved it. The pitch was very poor, and at times so was the football, made difficult by the strong cross-field wind.

 

Hornchurch had two early chances – George Purcell fired over from 30 yards, and when a Courtney Homans throw reached Joey May, also 30 yards out, the shot met the same fate.

 

There was a brief hold up on ten minutes when it was noticed that a corner flag was missing – something which might be common in Sunday football, but which is a rarity at senior level.

 

Danny Emmanuel made a good run along the wing for the home side, and his shot was well saved by Sam Mott, although a goal would not have counted as an offside flag was raised.

 

Witham took a surprise lead in the 16^th minute when Tom Wraight’s shot caused confusion in the defence, and Danny Emmanuel tapped home via a post.

 

There was little to enthuse about in the a first half where the ball spent most of its time in the air, and apart from two corners for Witham, the home side did not look likely to cause a threat.

 

Hornchurch had two opportunities to level – the first was when George Purcell took a free kick about 35 yards out, and his shot cannoned back off the defensive wall, and a Joey May corner fell neatly in front of Purcell, but Louis Godwin-Green made a fine save to keep the ball out.

 

In the second half the ball again spent much of its time in orbit high above the players’ heads, although it was home keeper Godwin-Green who kept Witham ahead. When Chris Bourne set up Nnamdi Nwachuku, Godwin-Green did well to turn the shot away for a corner, and when May floated the ball across, Elliot Styles headed wide.

 

Sam Mott was in action at the other end, with a good save from Wright’s free kick, whilst Godwin-Green again kept his side in front with an excellent save from Kieran Bishop. 

 

Martin Tuohy and Junior Luke came on as substitutes and Hornchurch looked a lot more likely to score. But it was Tobi Joseph who created the equaliser, with a rapid run at goal which only ended when Paul King tripped him up – off went King for his second yellow card, and in went the ball from George Purcell’s well-struck penalty.

 

Godwin-Green was again called upon to keep his side in with a chance, when Junior Luke took a long throw, and Elliot Styles’ headed was tipped over for a corner, and Styles went close when his header from May’s corner skimmed the post.

 

Mott dealt with two Witham corners in quick succession, but the match was won and lost in the 85^th minute, when Godwin-Green made a sensational save from Purcell, and Styles headed the corner over. From the goal kick the ball was played up field and out to the left where Tom Wraight ran on and fired powerfully into the net.

 

Hornchurch had just one more chance to draw level, when Homans picked out Martin Tuohy, and yet again it was Godwin-Green to the rescue with another excellent save.

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Louis Godwin-Green was making his Witham debut, after signing from Billericay during the week.

 

Unusuallly, there were two different programmes for this match - one covered both the Hendon match on Tuesday prior and the Hornchurch match, whilst the other one covered only the Hornchurch match, although it included Hendon's history in the inside pages.

 

And - for anyone who did not travel to this match, the Witham ground was only three-sided as the fare side stand was out of bounds.

[Eastside Urchin]

Attendance???

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Attendance was 174 (same as the figure for the Canvey match) - there was a much larger than normal following from Hornchurch at the Witham match.