| On a biting cold night at AFC Hornchurch's Bridge Avenue Stadium these two sides produced an excellent game of football to warm the hands & hearts but not necessarily the feet of the 240 hardy spectators who turned up to watch the action.
Both sides wanted the points from this encounter with AFC Hornchurch looking to take a step towards the title and Wingate & Finchley wanting to return to winning ways after a bad run, so chances were plenty but neither goal keeper was really tested until Dean Williams was put through in a one on one situation with Dale Brightly who positioned himself well to block Williams drive with his body, then more good work ended with Joe O'Brien firing over.
Minutes before the break and Simon Parker broke clear only to be shown out to the bye-line by the returning Ahmet Rifat, Parker spotted an opportunity to whip over a cross to the back post where KRIS LEE was totally unmarked and had the easiest of tasks to roll the ball home. The hosts should have scored earlier as another cross to the far post eluded an unmarked forward. With referee Gary Evetts ready to blow for the interval Thompson advanced out of his goal, the goal was gaping but 16 year old Darren Assiamah superbly covered to head a goal bound effort off the line and with that clearance the whistle went.
The second half continued to be end to end with both sides looking to create more chances and following a clash of heads between Billy Amarteifio and Craig Ellis the sporting nature of this game was shown as Hornchurch laid the ball back to Thompson whose long clearance reached Daniel Clarke he fired in a first time effort that Brightly failed to hold and DEAN WILLIAMS was on hand to finish for his 20th of the season. The Blues now took the game to the hosts and Joe O'Brien fired wide whilst at the far end Ed Thompson stood up well to deny Hornchurch.
Craig Ellis soon found Mark Gradosielski who spotted Williams in space and Williams drove an effort that looked destined for the top corner only for Brightly to get a firm hand to the effort and turn the ball away for a corner from which Craig Ellis headed over. There was soon more action as Clarke had an effort saved, then with Hornchurch down to ten men as a defender was lying in obvious agony in the area Leon Osei allowed the ball to roll under his foot and out so that treatment could be given, another example of the sporting nature this encounter.
At the end a draw was a fair result as the hosts had the better of the first half whilst the Blues had the better of the second.
Now the Blues have to look to build on this performance with away trips to Maldon Town and Tilbury in the next week.
WINGATE & FINCHLEY:- Ed Thompson 7; Darren Assiamah
7; Guy Helman 7; Craig Ellis 6 (Captain); Billy Amarteifio
7; Ahmet Rifat 9; Mark Gradosielski 7; Joe O'Brien 6(Danny Berg 88); Dean Williams
7; Daniel Clarke 6 (Chris West 78); Leon Osei 7 (Daniel Stanton 88). Subs not Used: Matthew Batt; Guy Morris
|