Southend Manor 2-2 Waltham Forest
Forest rescued a point in their Essex Senior League fixture away to Southend Manor through James Ogunleye’s 96th minute equaliser.
Hassana Traore also scored in a match that ended in the most dramatic of circumstances.
Forest started brightly and dominated play in the opening stages. Striker, Solomon Ofori, was close to having a number of early one-on-one opportunities but was caught offside on each occasion. Nonetheless, the pace of the centre forward was a threat throughout the match and his first chance of a goal soon came, after he latched onto a diagonal right to left cross from Raffaele Kaphouris, but he failed to hit the target with his header from close range.
Midway through the first half, the ‘Stags’ again went close after some neat footwork from Hassana Traore earned him a pocket of space to shoot from but his curled effort flew wide of the target. Forest were then slow to regroup following the chance and the hosts instantly responded with one of their own, hitting the bar with a shot from distance.
Forest opened up the scoring through a neat passage of play just before halftime. A direct long ball from goalkeeper William Hunt was brought down confidently by Ofori who, with his back to goal, laid it off for Traore to shoot and this time he made no mistake in finding the target. Despite the midfielder’s initial shot being palmed away, the Southend goalkeeper failed to get the ball to safety and it was Traore who was quickest to react to the rebound as he calmly slotted the ball into the net.
After the break, a tidy finish from Southend striker Rhys Fatt levelled the score. The game became much scrappier in the second half. Both teams had chances but none were converted.
A draw looked a certainty but, with minutes to go, substitute Oliver Thursby headed Southend in front after the ball was launched forward into the box from a set piece. It seemed a point was all but lost for Forest as the home side tried to kill the game off by holding the ball in the corner. However, in the dying moments, Forest won back possession and launched a last ditch counter attack. The ball was worked up to defender James Ogunleye who had been instructed to leave his position in search of an equaliser seconds before by the coaching staff. With the final kick of the game, after driving deep into the opposition half, the centre back unleashed a shot from 25 yards that flew across goal into the top left corner.
The team’s Coach spoke highly of the team’s performance after the game, “This is the Essex Senior League. Teams don’t normally play like our team did today in the Essex Senior. Since I have come to the club, I have always said we must try to play the proper way and I think we probably played the proper way out there today.”
The coaching staff refused to take any of the credit after the match having instructed Ogunleye to go forward saying that, “First of all, the team takes the credit. Whatever you can say, it is the team that takes the credit because if anyone is not on the same page it essentially means we playing a man down, 10 against 11. So, everyone who played today deserves the credit. The main thing for me is the spirit that we showed to keep playing until the final whistle. Credit to the other team as well, they too fought hard but you could see the determination of our lads right until the end. They went until the last minute today.”
The ‘Stags’ are now unbeaten in their last five matches after what has been a slow start to the season. Having taken just seven points from eight games before October, the team are now showing real signs that they can be a threat this season.
Report by Jack Ball.
