Six-goal Thriller

It was a disappointing return to the league for the Yellows, as we suffered defeat.
We dominated possession in the early stages of the match, the attack of Micheal, Joe and Romario rotating, as well as debutant Andre Edionhon, all causing trouble for the Stratford defence - but very few shots. First blood went to the hosts. A neat passing move meant no challenges were put in and the ball was controlled by Callum Ebanks, who calmly slotted past Bradbrook. We then had to deal with a spell of being under pressure. Tarps blocked a certain goal, after great attacking play. Bradders made an absolutely fantastic save, which everyone thought was in; especially the home stand who started celebrating, but their cheers soon turned to applause, applause for our phenomenal Number One. Despite his heroics, he had no chance to stop the second one. Once again, another neat passing move and the ball was squared to Daniel Lafferty who, unmarked, tapped into an empty net. We did have the ball in the net, but somehow Joe Neal was ‘offside’ from where I was it looked like he was just quicker than the defence!

We made the perfect start to the second half, Ben Hunter’s corner whipped into the back post where Charlie Lewis headed across goal... right to Andre Edionhon, who volleyed into the back of the net on his debut. Andre nearly equalised, but he slotted his shot just past the post. Bradders then made another unbelievable stop, a venomous effort hit with so much ferocity, and he made it look easy. Just as we were getting further into our stride, a penalty was given for a ‘foul’ by Olu, looked more like a 50/50 - incredibly harsh. Substitute Jack Storer stepped up for the hosts and placed it perfectly into the bottom corner. Three minutes later, Storer scored again, he was slipped through, and he took a touch round Bradders and tapped into an empty net. With 10 minutes to go, we were given a lifeline, Andre made another super run down the left and played through Ola Bello, who ‘mis-hit’ his shot right into the path of Joe Neal, who scored in his fourth consecutive game (in all competitions.) With six minutes added on, a small slither of hope went around the away fans... but it wasn’t to be.

Another strong performance, even if we didn’t get a point. We are definitely seeing the beginning of something special. So lets just continue to back the brilliant boys on Tuesday, and even more so in our FA Cup encounter with league rivals Hitchin town on Saturday.

UP THE SUDS

By,
Isaac Mennie