Highworth Town 2-3 Walthamstow
Stow picked up three points on the road against relegation-threatened Highworth Town, but were somewhat fortunate to do so in a real game of two halves in Wilshire.
After a midweek performance which saw them brush away fifth-placed Ware, Stow started the game on the front foot, forcing a couple of early corners. The first real shot on goal came after 12 minutes when good pressure from Duncan Culley helped a long ball drop to Callum Ibe who fired just wide from the edge of the box.
It took a while for Stow to get going again after the good start, but when they did, they put Highworth to the sword with three goals in 15 minutes.
The first came when Demaray Anyadike’s corner was only cleared as far as Carl Mensah who turned and shot into the bottom corner in one movement from twelve yards out.
One became two five minutes later when Culley was at the back post to head home Bilal Sayoud’s corner.
And the first half performance was complete with Anyadike cut inside his defender and rifled the ball into the roof of the net.
Stow would have hoped to have controlled the second half as they had done the first, but four minutes in Highworth were given a lifeline with a bizarre refereeing decision to award a penalty after a bit of contact in the Stow penalty area from a corner. Not a single person in the ground appealed for a penalty, but as the Highworth players returned to their defensive positions the referee pointed to the spot. But Ashly Edenborough made the most of the decision, driving the penalty straight down the middle of Brad Robinson’s goal.
Stow had chances to kill the game, but couldn’t do so. Percy Winter had their best chance, volleying over at the back post, and Sayoud also shot narrowly wide from a free kick. Stow felt they should have had a penalty of their own when Culley was barged when through on goal, but the push made Culley run into the Highworth keeper, and the referee awarded a defensive free kick.
Highworth countered, and on 82 minutes got right back in the game, when Sol Pryce’s long-range free kick took a deflection off the wall to beat Robinson.
From then on, there was only one team more likely to score, but neither Edenborough nor Pryce could convert one-on-one efforts – Robinson coming to Stow’s rescue in the dying minutes.
In truth, the scoreline didn’t reflect the game as a whole, but Stow will know that a performance like the second half one they produced won’t get them far in the play-offs, should they make it.
