I was over at a huge Ryman One North Division match between Brentwood Town andHaringey Borough on a warm April afternoon at the Brentwood Arena.
The hosts sat just two points above the drop zone whilst Boro were just three points and a place outside the play off zone, so both sides needed the points for differing reasons.
The opening ten minutes were pretty quiet as both teams settled into the contest on a rock hard surface but in the 14th minute the first opening saw hosts dangerman Harrison Georgiou receive the ball in a good position but he mishit his effort and saw it blocked, however moments later Georgiou picked out an unmarked Kieran English inside the box and the Town forward tapped home. The visitors looked bemused and claimed he was offside but their complaints fell on deaf ears and the hosts had an early lead.
Haringey looked to respond to this setback and five minutes later threatened when a Ralston Gabriel volley deflected into the path of Adrian Markus who struck the post from point blank range but was he was flagged offside anyhow so it wouldn’t of counted although it was a warning to the hosts.
And two minutes later the hosts had another warning when Boro broke forward through Chris Benjamin but after cutting inside his shot was blocked and ended up trickling through to keeperAnthony Page.
However in the 28th minute Brentwood went to be so lucky when the visitors levelled after a free kick from Ben Adams was parried by Page into the path of Markus who rifled the rebound into the roof of the net. Maybe the keeper should of done better but Markus reacted the quickest to fire his side level.
The goal didn’t seem to effect the hosts too much and on 34 minutes should of retaken the lead when English found himself in on goal but dragged his effort well wide then moments later Markus was in for the visitors but Page stole the ball off his toes as he tried to go round him.
With five minutes of the half remaining Town thought they had retaken the lead but Georgiou’s volley was flagged offside and then three minutes later a hosts corner came out to Andy Freeman but the midfielder could only hit well over. Brentwood though were ending the half well and in first half stoppage time retook lead when Georgiou hooked a ball across for skipper Ryan O’Rawe to head into the far corner and send his side into the break ahead.
Half Time Brentwood Town 2 Haringey Borough 1
The second half began with Gabriel hooking an effort towards goal for visitors but Page caught this easily and then ten minutes into the second period Freeman got clear for the hosts but saw his effort saved by Will Viner before the loose ball was hacked away.
Brentwood could well have done with a two goal cushion as the visitors started to pit the hosts defence under pressure and just before the hour mark saw a cross headed wide by Markus although keeper Page looked fairly untroubled by the effort and in the 64th minute more pressure from the visitors saw the hosts defend well and clear their lines as they were having to dig deep.
In the 68th minute the hosts managed to break at the visitors goal and saw Lamar Reynolds, who had been a thorn in the side of the visitors defence all game, brought down by Michael O’Donoghue, who was booked for the challenge. However Reynolds sent the free kick way over the bar.
But any nerves the hosts may have been suffering were quashed with six minutes remaining when keeper Viner, under pressure from Freeman, lost the way outside the area and saw the hosts midfielder duly roll the ball into the empty net and no doubt the Haringey keeper wanted the ground to swallow him up.
Boro tried to respond but saw an effort from Benjamin fly wide of tue near post whilst up the other end Reynolds got down the left but failed to get a shot off and his effort was eventually snuffed out.
Deep into stoppage time hosts keeper Page claimed yet another cross, and apart from the goal he had been in fine form today and the whistle blew for full time and the hosts had a massive win in their fight to avoid the drop.
Haringey are still only three points off the playoffs despite this defeat as results went their way today, however they will need to play much better than they did in this one if they are to claim a top five finish.
Full Time Brentwood Town 3 Haringey Borough 1
No comments:
Post a Comment