Tuesday 1st April 2014 Essex Senior League
Borough moved above their visitors into 4th place in the table in a fiercely contested match against visitors whose 13 match winning run which started with a home victory over Borough had been ended the previous week. As on Saturday Borough again created nearly all the chances in the first half only to be let down by poor finishing. Ellis Remy seemed to have opened the scoring in the 24th minute when he met a free kick at the far post and headed it accurately across the goal and into the net but joy was short lived as a flag was raised for an off-side decision, with which unsurprisingly not all present agreed. Remy’s contribution was ended by injury a few minutes later and Anthony McDonald replaced him to present the visitors with problems of a very different nature. Walid Matata seemed sure to score when he hooked the ball towards the empty net when the keeper was way out of position but unfortunately it sailed just wide of his left hand post. By contrast Ashley Harris in the Borough goal was virtually untroubled throughout the first half for which he has to thank a near impregnable back four of Rakim Richards, Cedric Lakole, Joe O’Cearuill and Daniel Walker reinforced by the formidable strength and power play of midfielders Ashley Fashanu and Stephen Obeng. Borough totally dominated the second half but a very resilient Sawbridgeworth defence never looked like wilting as Borough upped the pressure several notches as the half wore on but were allowed no clear cut openings. It was going to need something special and when the game was exactly ¾ over Daniel Aristidou supplied it as he moved smoothly on to a loose ball after a corner had been half blocked and rocketed home a 15 yarder low and hard from a central position giving ‘keeper Tom Selkirk no chance. Sawbridgeworth never gave up and did force Harris into an important stop when he was caught out of position but an airborne leap enabled him to clutch a shot fired at him from a few yards away when he was only just inside his penalty area. A tempting low cross was sent over from the right late on and it was fortunate that no-one could quite get a toe on it to divert it home. But Borough still looked the more likely scorers and clinched the game in the 88th minute when McDonald neatly brought the ball down on the edge of the area and turned well to place his shot right out of Selkirk’s reach. Again a raised flag caused some concern but on this occasion the referee correctly ruled that McDonald, although well off-side, had received the ball via a mis-directed Sawbridgeworth defenders header and there was no dispute about the goal being allowed to stand.
Borough squad:- Ashley HARRIS, Rakim RICHARDS, Cedric LAKOLE,
Ashley FASHANU (Neil JOHNSTON), Joseph O’CEARUILL, Daniel WALKER,
Daniel ARISTIDOU, Stephen OBENG, Ellis REMY (Anthony McDONALD)
Lee ALLEN Walid MATATA
Unused Substitutes:- Charles DOUSE Andreas LOIZOU, Austin BYFIELD (GK)
