Frenford 2 Park View 2

Thurlow Nunn Division One South, Tuesday 5th October

I made my way over to the Ilford/Redbridge area and The Drive for a Thurlow Nunn Division One South fixture between Frenford and Park View, and it saw a late leveller from visitors skipper Eugene Asante earn the North London side a point.

Both these sides sat in the lower half of the table at kick off, Frenford were in 14th having on average earnt a point a game so far in thirteen, whilst Park View were three places and four points better off in 11th, and they knew a win would take them into ninth in what has been a decent season for them so far as many, including myself, thought they would struggle somewhat in this division.

The hosts had come into this one off the back of defeat at Holland at the weekend, whilst Park View had beaten Harwich & Parkeston at home for their fifth win of the season so far, so maybe the visitors carried the better morale coming into this one, although Frenford had won their last home game 6-0 against Brimsdown, so they certainly had goal scoring in their ranks.

The opening half hour was not a great spectacle, but just before the half hour mark the visitors did grab the lead when Joel Agyemang pounced on some sloppy play from the hosts to drive into the box and fire a right footed effort across goal into the far corner, and if it had not been for home keeper Jack Ryan, it could have been two, as the home stopper produced a fine close range save.

The hosts though began to show signs of life in the latter part of the first half and put Park View under a lot of pressure, and they continued this on early in the second period too and finally managed to find a leveller in the 64th minute when Ben Bridgeman was played in, and he produced a lovely left footed effort into the far corner.

Frenford continued to be the better side and their play finally bared fruit with nine minutes to go after visiting keeper and former Frenford keeper Luis Silva tried to claim a bouncing ball inside the box but in doing so went through the back of Bridgeman, resulting in a penalty for the hosts, and Bridgeman himself stepped up to emphatically dispatch the spot kick, and Frenford seemed likely to go on and win this.

But they could not hold on as with two minutes of the ninety left, a long throw from Nuhu Ibrahim was flicked on into the six yard box where skipper Asante was on hand to prod home from close range and make sure the New River side went back to Haringey with a point to show for their efforts.

Frustrating for Frenford though after getting themselves in front, only to give away a sloppy goal and come away with just a point, boss Dave Forbes said to me afterwards it was the story of their season, so hopefully they can turn some of these performances into wins soon, but fair play to the visitors who didn't give up and were rewarded for that at least, Frenford remain 14th and keep up their one point a game average, whilst Park View remain 11th with eighteen points from fourteen played.

Full time Frenford 2 Park View 2