HORNCHURCH 3 CRAY WANDERERS 1

[Dagger03]

Saturday 08-August-2015 – Isthmian League

HORNCHURCH  2  CRAY WANDERERS  1

 

HFC -

1 – Sam Mott

2 – Dave Collis

3 – Junior Luke

4 – Elliot Styles

5 – Alex Bentley

6 Joey May – Leon Smith 86

7 – Abs Thompson – Calvin Poku 72

8 – Tom Pennells– Jed Chouman 79

9 – David Knight

10 -  George Purcell

11 – Tobi Joseph

 

Subs – Paulius Ditkevicius – Callum Chafer

 

CW – Nick Blue – Adetayo Osifuwa – Grant Basey – Nick Reeves – Ben Payne – Jack Lodge (Dane Moore at half time) – Dean Carpenter – Karl Dent (Helge Orome 71) – Leigh Bremner – Andre McCollin – James Duckworth (Malik Ouani 85

Subs – Ray Powell – Sean Roberts

 

Officials – Craig Pullen with Val Anekwe and David Moreno

 

Scorers – McCollin 63 (CW) – Purcell 82 (H) – Knight 90+3 (H)

 

Bookings – Osifuwa 45 (CW) - McCollin 53 (CW) – Luke 86 (H) – Collis 88 (H) - Payne 90+2 (CW)

 

 

HORNCHURCH  2  CRAY WANDERERS  1

 

Cray Wanderers are one of the teams expected to be in the running for at least a play-off place in the league, and, on a day when temperatures soared into the high 20s, they looked to be going home with all three points, until two late goals decided the match in favour of Hornchurch.

 

Hornchurch kicked towards the clubhouse end in the first half, and could have gone ahead in the first ten minutes – a cross from Abs Thompson found Tobi Joseph, and his first time shot was turned out for a corner, as David Knight just failed to get a touch.

 

George Purcell went close with a shot from long range, whilst at the other end Sam Mott did well to tip a shot from Leigh Bremner over the bar.

 

Joseph was just inches away from opening the scoring when he took a pass from Knight, ran past the defender, and although his shot beat the advancing Blue, the ball rolled narrowly wide of the far post.

 

Mott comfortably fielded a Grant Basey free kick, and then made a fine save from James Duckworth. The home defence was caught out from the resulting corner but Bremner directed his header wide of the goal.

 

Hornchurch kicked towards the windmill end in the second half, and a Dave Collis throw caused consternation in the visiting defence before the ball was finally scrambled out for a corner.

 

On the hour Purcell was fouled, and took the free kick himself, hitting his shot hard against the defensive wall.

 

Two minutes later Cray took the lead when Andre McCollin turned sharply just inside the area and fired home, to the delight of both the away directors and the Cray team.

 

A Dave Collis free kick was turned out for a corner, whilst, back at the Hornchurch end, a McCollin shot came back off the post.

 

Junior Luke was fouled as he went for goal and referee Craig Pullen immediately pointed to the spot. George Purcell took the penalty and Nick Blue dived to his right to save well.

 

A minute later Elliot Styles headed home from a Joey May corner but the goal was disallowed, and Hornchurch introduced Calvin Poku for Abs Thompson, as Hornchurch moved into a 4-3-3 formation, but Cray seemed to be in a commanding position and Alex Bentley did well to clear a goal bound attempt by Helge Orome.

 

Blue then made an excellent save from David Knight, and the rebound was cleared off the line.

 

Jed Chouman replaced Tom Pennells, and three minutes later George Purcell levelled the score with a free kick which went in off of the post.

 

Leon Smith replaced Joey May and the scene was set for a frantic three minutes of stoppage time, when the visiting goal was under constant siege. In the third and final minute of stoppage time Dave Collis floated a free kick in from the left, and in the ensuing scramble David Knight scored his first competitive goal for his new club on his debut.

 

The final whistle went seconds later, and referee Craig Pullen had to sort out a somewhat lively discussion as the teams left the pitch.