SATURDAY 26th NOVEMBER RYMAN LEAGUE DIVISION ONE NORTH
HARINGEY BOROUGH 7 ROMFORD 1
For the third time this season Borough netted 7 times at Coles Park and effectively had the game won in the first half hour by which time Chris Benjamin and Adrian Markus had each netted twice. Both went on to complete their hat-tricks in the second half and Nana Asamoah added the seventh six minutes from time. Romford were unlucky to be faced with a Borough side in such rampant form and it is remarkable that only eight Saturdays ago Borough had been fortunate to bring back a point from the away fixture with them. Only in the overthrowing of then leaders Phoenix Sports have Borough reached the same heights this season as were achieved in this demolition job. Romford did get one back when five down and there was controversy later when they were awarded a penalty which the match officials felt hit a post but which may actually have gone in and come back out, but in the end it mattered little for their defence was never able to cope with Borough’s relentless, speedy intricate approach work. When all the squad are fit and available Tom Loizoui will certainly have a very welcome selection headache if all involved maintain this standard.
Borough squad:- HARRY PALMER RAKIM RICHARDS DAVID OLUFEMI DEWAYNE CLARKE ANTON BLACKWOOD (ANDREAS LOIZOU 68) RAMIL SHERIFF DANIEL ARISTIDOU RALSTON GABRIEL (NANA ASAMOAH 63) CHRISTOPHER BENJAMIN (ANTHONY McDONALD 54) ADRIAN MARKUS ALI SETIREKLI
Unused Subs:- DEAN FENTON (gk) CURTIS JACKSON
Monday 28th November
Ryman League Division 1 North
HARINGEY BOROUGH 3 THAMESMEAD TOWN 2
All’s well that ends well and Borough garnered three more points to boost their promotion hopes and now occupy 9th place with 34 points, just 3 points away from a play off spot. But en route Borough delivered a master class in how to turn a comfortable cruise into a nail-biter; by the interval Borough were two up thanks to top quality strikes by Ralston Gabriel (22nd minute) and Adrian Markus (38th) and the visitors had been reduced to ten men through a double yellow card. In fact Borough might well have been four up for what looked like two very clear penalty offences, the first after only two minutes, were not deemed to be such by the referee . It should have been game over a few minutes into the second half when Borough pressed forward in numbers and took advantage of a defensive error to set up Gabriel for another fine finish. But two minutes later Dewayne Clarke launched himself into a tackle very similar to the one which had seen the Thamesmead player dismissed and as he too had already been booked the referee had no option but to issue marching orders. Thamesmead immediately sensed the opportunity to retrieve the situation and were quickly rewarded with a goal low into the far corner scored by Harvey Brand following a fast break down the right. Borough made but wasted several better than half chances to make the game safe and so had to endure a nervy last fifteen minutes after Alex Teniola was left to head home unchallenged in the six yard box as a free kick was fired over.
Borough squad: HARRY PALMER RAKIM RICHARDS DAVID OLUFEMI DEWAYNE CLARKE ANTON BLACKWOOD
RAMIL SHERIFF DANIEL ARISTIDOU RALSTON GABRIEL CHRISTOPHER BENJAMIN (DEAN FENTON 59)
ADRIAN MARKUS (ANTHONY McDONALD 70) ALI SETIREKLI (AARON SCOTT 90)
Unused Subs – DANIEL FRANCIS (gk) CURTIS JACKSON
Boroughs next game is away to VCD Athletic on Saturday 3rd followed by a home game against Heybridge Swifts on 10th December
