Stow 1-1 Witham Town (Match abandoned)
It’s not often you get a match abandoned because of rain in the Brtish ‘summertime’, but that’s exactly what happened at Wadham Lodge on Saturday, as a biblical downpour over half time put most of the pitch underwater.
In both of Stow’s previous games this season they started on the front foot, but they struggled to get control of the game against a Witham Town side who moved the ball quickly.
Liam Whipps was proving dangerous on the Witham left, and it looked like he’d helped put his side 1-0 when his cross was poked in at the back post by Abdul-Rasheed Ajani-Salau, but the linesman already has his flag up for offside due to the run of Jeffrey Cobblah in the middle of the goal.
This scare woke Stow up, and they took the lead on 25 minutes when Percy Winter’s mazy run saw him beat three Witham players and cross to Jordon Waston for an easy back-post tap-in.
The goal gave Stow a bit of freedom, and they almost made the most of it when a deep cross seemed to beat everyone, eventually bouncing off Demaray Anyadike but it landed straight at Nicky Eyre in the Witham goal.
Eyre was then almost the master of his own downfall, fluffing a clearance straight to Anyadike, but the Stow winger’s first-time goal-bounded effort was cleared by a retreating defender.
But just before half time Witham levelled. A deep throw-in was only cleared as far as Cobblah ten yards out, who smashed the ball home through a sea of legs.
The half ended in glorious sunshine, but 15 minutes later, it was a totally different affair. Torrential rain and, at times hail, completely saturated the Wadham Lodge pitch. The referee did try and get things going again, but three minutes into the second half it was clear that play couldn’t go on. The ball wasn’t rolling more than a couple of inches, causing some farcical scenes.
The rain continued for another 45 minutes, justifying Vladyslav Bakulin’s decision to call the game early. The two sides will now have to start again in a few weeks’ time, date to be confirmed.
