So Wednesday night saw me at my first ever Mile End derby as Sporting Bengal Unitedhosted Tower Hamlets in an ESL encounter.
It a game both sides do not want to lose and for hosts Sporting it was only their second game of the league campaign whilst for Hamlets they were looking to put a difficult start to their season behind them.
Sporting of course have a big FA Cup tie on Saturday and perhaps this was on the players minds as the opening ten minutes definitely belonged to the visitors as they had pretty much all the possession and attacking intent.
In fact this carried on for pretty much the first twenty minutes of the contest until the hosts struck with their first attack of note on 20 minutes when a loose ball was bundled home by Codey Cameron from close range to give the hosts a scarcely deserved lead.
The goal understandably lifted the previously subdued hosts and they so nearly added a second minutes later when Kadir Jama hit the crossbar from a free kick although from the resulting clearance Hamlets almost got in down the other end but saw the defence somehow scramble clear.
Despite the visitors having the majority of the attacking play, without any final touch, Bengal creaated another golden chance but saw visiting keeper Jean Manata produce a fine save down to his left and keep the scoreline as it was.
However ten minutes before half time Hamlets should really have been level but they saw skipper Ade Oreniake somehow miss a virtual open net at the back post after a ball across the box wasn’t dealt with. It was an unbelievable miss and kind of typified the visitors match so far, and because of this they trailed at the half.
Half Time Sporting Bengal United 1 Tower Hamlets 0
The opening quarter of the second half produced virtually nothing in the way of goal mouth action, that was until Hamlets went so close again after O’Neal Rowe’s brilliant long range effort was wonderfully tipped over by Lewis Lockyer in the Bengal Goal.
You kind of felt it would be one of those days for the visitors yet again in front of goal but in the 64th minute they finally found a way through when Jhonatas Silas da Silva (what a name by the way!!!) struck home from way out taking Lockyer by surprise in the hosts net. It was a well deserved leveller though after the amount of attacking the away side had manufactured in this game.
Hamlets now had their tails up and soon after Yusuf Ali nearly got in in goal but saw the bounce of the ball favour keeper and defender and they between them managed to thwart the attacker. Rowe then got in down the left for Hamlets but saw Lockyer save as another chance went begging for the visitors.
Bengal didn’t really create to much in the second half but with seven minutes to go looked to have snatched the lead once again when slotting home a through ball, but the flag had gone up for offside although it did look like a tight call however it remained 1-1.
So could anyone be a hero and win this derby, well the answer to that question was yes as in the 92nd minute Rowe got clear of the Sporting back line and duly lofted over the advancing Lockyer and see the ball nestle in the far corner of the net and score a late winner for the visiting side, which you would have to say was deserved over the ninety minutes.
It means Sporting have now lost both their league games so far whilst Hamlets record their second league win of the season. Hamlets should take heart from this performance going forward whilst for the hosts they will need to play a hell of a lot better against Kings Langley at the weekend if they are to push the Southern League Premier side close. No doubt they will though.
Full Time Sporting Bengal United 1 Tower Hamlets 2
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