Saturday 27 August 2016

Wadham Lodge 0 Redbridge 0

Essex Senior League, Saturday 27th August 2016

So I was back at Kitchener Road in Walthamstow for the second time in four days as I came to see Wadham Lodge take on Redbridge in a ESL battle.
Both teams have had difficult starts to the season after much rebuilding in the summer but both had recorded decent wins over Haringey & Waltham recently so would have taken heart from that no doubt.
With both sides having very similar records so far this campaign it was always going to be a tight contest one felt. And sure enough the opening ten minutes yielded very little in the way ofgoal mouth action as both sides looked to feel their way into the contest.
Once past the quarter hour mark though Lodge began to take the reins and on 18 minutes so nearly grabbed the lead when a free kick swung into the box saw skipper Elliot Scott flick an effort towards goal which came off the bar and bounce down just before the line before it was cleared.
The hosts continued to have the openings that came along although they were unable to really test keeper Jack Mernach in the visitors goal.
Redbridge had rarely threatened going forward until seven minutes before the break when a cross into the dangerzone saw Lee Weemes divert an effort inches over when he probably should of scored. It was a warning to the hosts however.
But with no further goal mouth action to speak of the half ended goal less with Wadham Lodge the happier of the two sides thus far you would of thought.
Half Time Wadham Lodge 0 Redbridge 0
The visitors came out after the break with much more purpose about them and pushed their opponents back, creating a couple of openings inside the first ten minutes of the half.
Lodge had effectively resorted to counter attacking football and one such break saw Usama Hamdan almost get in but keeper Mernach came to smother the effort before it could beat him.
However it was the Motormen who were doing most of the pressing in this half and midway through it skipper Adam Hunt saw a twenty yard volley go inches wide as they continued to have the better of the game since the half time break.
Wadham created a rare second half opening with around fifteen minutes to go when sub Russell Downes stung the palms of keeper Mernach and they went even closer inside the last ten minutes when Henri Okosi saw an effort cleared off the line by the visitors.
However despite the visitors creating several openings they hardly tested host keeper Jasdeep Singh Bhoarua, largely down to the two centre halves in the hosts defence producing wonderful blocks when required.
And so in a match where both teams had failed to keep a clean sheet all season it ended in a goalless draw. It’s one positive both sides can take from a game that wasn’t great but was also not the worst I’ve seen. Ok but not great is probably how this one will be remembered.
Full Time Wadham Lodge 0 Redbridge 0













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