Walthamstow were eliminated in the Extra Preliminary Round of the FA Cup after a 2-1 defeat away at Leverstock Green.
The first half started brightly for the Stow, who came close to taking the lead early on. Last season’s Players, supporters and managers player of the year Jordan Peart returned to the side in an unusual position on the left wing. His effort was denied by goalkeeper Finlay Peniston-Walker, but fell for Joden Trickett who was also denied by the man in goal. Zion Sinclair picked up the ball outside the box where his effort was blocked and cleared by Kombe Kawimbe.
Leverstock were also searching for an opener when forward Joe McCarthy headed over the bar, and the hosts believed they should’ve had a penalty awarded when McCarthy went down inside the box under a challenge from goalkeeper Anton Robinson, but it was waved away by the referee.
Right before half time, Stow found the opening goal of the afternoon. Luke Warner-Eley’s delivery from a corner was brilliantly met by defender William Oduwa who headed the ball into the net to give Stow the lead.
Ten minutes into the second half and Stow were reduced to ten men when captain Nathaniel Orafu was shown a second yellow card for a challenge on Carmichael Uchenna. It seemed like a big challenge for Stow to hold on with more than half an hour to go.
Despite the setback, Stow looked for a second and had the chance to potentially put the game in a comfortable position. A long ball forward was chased by substitute Elijah Grant to the corner where it was being shielded by the defender. The substitute managed to win it back and drove towards goal where he had James Collins standing just outside the six yard box unmarked. However, the substitute went for goal and dragged his shot wide of the near post.
The hosts were slowly getting back into the game and could’ve gone level when Joe McCarthy put Anton Robinson on the floor and cut the ball back for Jack Allan who had an empty net in front of him, but he could only manage to fire it over the bar.
The new rule of a 5 second countdown on goal kicks came into play when Anton Robinson was judged to have taken too long, which meant the referee blew for a corner and booked Robinson for booting the ball away. A goal mouth scramble resulted from the corner with an effort from Jack Allan once again being fired over.
With less than ten minutes from time, Leverstock found the equaliser. It was another goal mouth scramble from the Stow defence which fell for substitute George Mitchell-Geary finding the net.
Leverstock eventually found the winner in the 96th minute with essentially the last kick of the game. A ball out wide found striker Jack Allan who volleyed home over Anton Robinson and into the far corner to send the home fans and Leverstock substitute bench into raptures.
It’s a hard one to take for Stow, who felt like they could hang on to the win or a replay.
Walthamstow begin their league season next weekend away at newly promoted Fakenham Town.