Athletic Newham 1 Woodford Town 3

Essex Senior League, Wednesday January 2nd

Wednesday evening was spent over at The Terrence McMillan Stadium and saw a second half brace from Luke Parrott and a late third from Ayub Kadiri help Woodford Town to a third straight win in the Essex Senior League as they saw off an off colour Athletic Newham.

The hosts had come into this one off the back of a 2-2 draw at promotion rivals Saffron Walden Town although they did lead 0-2 so would have been disappointed to have thrown it away as they did, whereas Woodford had netted back to back wins and were looking to heap some more misery on their opponents in this one.

Newham knew if they could net a victory in this one they would go just five points behind second placed Stansted with two games in hand, meaning second place would still be in their hands just about, Woodford meanwhile knew three points would haul them closer to the top ten, they started the evening nine points off tenth placed FC Clacton with three games in hand.

The first period was best left alone as neither keeper was really tested, both sides had half chances but nothing real clear cut, and us neutrals were hoping for a big improvement after the break, and seven minutes into the second period we had a break through, and it went to the visitors, as the pacey full back Shaye La-Rose burst down the left, sent a ball across goal and it looked as if the defender would deal with it.

However, he did not, and the ball fell to the lurking Parrott who had the simple chance of firing into an empty net as hosts keeper Wilkinson Boateng was out of commission too having tried to stop the ball across goal, and send the rather noisy Woodford Towners into raptures (ok maybe not raptures but you know what I mean!!!)

Those Towners were to be even happier twelve minutes later as just before the midway point of the half more calamitous defending from the hosts allowed Parrott to lob a stranded Boateng and had the visitors a two goal cushion and see them well on their way to a third straight win.

The game looked to be as good as done as it drifted towards it's conclusion with the visitors happy to keep their opponents at arms length with a two goal lead, but with two minutes of the ninety remaining they found a goal from nowhere as a awful sliced clearance from visiting keeper Eddie Allen went straight to Tony Cookey and his ball into the box found Richard Kone who managed to fire an effort through bodies on route to goal and find the bottom corner.

So could the hosts grab an unlikely point? Well no, because two minutes later as the clock struck ninety minutes the superb La-Rose blasted down the left once again, leaving the hosts for dust, and he crossed into the six yard box where Kadiri was on hand to convert into the hosts net and seal the points for the visiting side and cap a very good performance.

It was a big blow to Newham's promotion hopes as they now do not have second place in their hands anymore, they must take all three points against Sawbridgeworth Town at the weekend and get back on track, whereas Woodford have a very quick turnaround as they host Takeley on Friday night under the lights at Ashton's, they will go into that full of confidence after another impressive win here.

Full time Athletic Newham 1 Woodford Town 3