Newbury Forest 1 Barkingside 2

Thurlow Nunn Division One South, Tuesday March 22nd

Oakside was my venue for a first game in the UK since March 5th, and it saw first half goals from Archie Hammond and skipper Elliott Scott enough for Barkingside to edge to victory over Newbury Forest in their Thurlow Nunn South contest.

Neither side really have a lot to play for now as the season draws to a conclusion, Forest are third bottom but ten points clear of second bottom Haverhill Borough and a further three points ahead of Brimsdown, so realistically they should be fine, whereas Side were in mid table and to far away from the play off pack, starting the evening fifteen points from fifth placed Wivenhoe Town.

But footballers are a competitive bunch, so they will always want to win any game they play, and finishing the season strongly is always a good thing to take into the summer of course, so this game would still be played at a fair pace and fiercely competed, the two met at Cricklefield on Valentines Day and it was Forest who edged that one 2-1, so could Side gain revenge for that?

In fact Forest have lost all four games since that victory, scoring only once and conceding eleven, so their form had dropped off alarmingly since that win in Seven Kings, Side have won two, drawn one and lost two since that defeat to Forest so a mixed bag you could say lately for Side, which is not uncommon for the Cricklefield outfit.

How would this one go anyway? Well, it was the visitors who struck first on ten minutes when Hammond caught out the keeper at his near post, firing a surprise left footed effort into the corner from the left side of the box, and twelve minutes before the break Hammond was involved again, sending a free kick to the far post and finding an unmarked Scott to head home and double the visitors advantage.

It was an advantage that looked to have been increased further three minutes later when a ball into the Forest box found a group of Side players all alone, and the ball was squared to Dan Jones who side footed home, and with no flag going up Forest were dismayed at this and were certain that at least one of them were offside, anyway after a minute or so of deliberation between referee and assistant, the goal was then chalked off for offside.

Both sets of players had lined up ready for kick off, so it was a rather delayed decision and a rather bizarre moment it has to be said, but it meant Side's lead was still only two, and then two minutes before the break it was down to just a single goal lead as Forest found a route back into the contest after full back Brendon-Jay Osholake powered home a close range header, and it meant the hosts were only a goal behind heading into the break.

Side had plenty of openings to increase their lead after the break, but Forest also had their moments too and had it not been for a superb save from Duncan Smith late on, diving away and clawing a superb effort from the hosts, they may well have grabbed a point, however Side did manage to hold on and claim the points and move up to eighth spot in the division, although as said before their chances of a top five finish look slim to none, twelve points off them with only five games to go.

Forest have now lost five games on the spin since that win at Side in February, but they still have a ten point buffer to second bottom and with eight games still to go will probably pick up a few more before the season is out, so as said previously they should be ok.

Full time Newbury Forest 1 Barkingside 2