Waltham Forest 2-0 Harlow Town
Waltham Forest continued their fine start to the season with a 2-0 win over much-fancied Harlow Town.
The home side were bolstered by the return of Ben Gracey, who went straight into the starting line-up, and the return of Josh Bonnett from Injury.
Forest’s first chance of the match came through Joel Palmer. Palmer found himself in acres of space, and was allowed to run through in to the Harlow area. However, just as he was lining up to shoot, the ball took a horrible bounce, and his shot ended up going wide.
Harlow’s main strategy seemed to be to knock the ball over the top for Rhys Henry to run onto, but their passes were either over hit, or expertly dealt with by Gracey and Antone Douglas.
Gracey had a good chance to put Forest ahead, but he headed over from a corner, when unmarked.
It seemed as if the two sides would go in at stalemate, but just before half time, Forest took the lead. The Harlow defence allowed Jeff Hammond to shield the ball in the box, and square to Josh Bonnett. Bonnett took the ball in his stride and fired into the back of the net with a first-time finish.
The match came alive in the second half, and Forest dominated for much of it. Despite this, the first real chance of the half went to the visitors. A deep free kick was sent in to Piers Wixon whose glancing header went about a foot over the bar.
The home side’s second goal came after a sustained period of pressure. The Harlow defence allowed Aaron Omand’s goal kick to bounce, letting Joel Palmer run onto the loose ball. Palmer’s first shot was saved by Bossu in the Harlow goal, but neither Bossu nor Ryan Kirby could do nothing about Palmer’s second shot, which nestled in the far post from the tightest of angles.
Not long after this Forest almost made it a third. Hammond was barged off the ball, and Peggy Lokando’s free kick rattled the crossbar with Bossu beaten.
With moments to go Forest could have had two more goals. First, Ryan Kirby almost turned the ball into his own goal from a Palmer cross, and then Bossu was forced into a superb save from a Dagher shot.
Forest were driven the entire match by their influential captain Gaz Dauti, and he made sure of the result by excellently holding the ball up in the corner, with the help of Manny Sackey.
Wale Ojelabi’s side now face Chatham Town on Wednesday evening, who themselves moved up to 2nd in the table today.
Waltham Forest: Omand, Sackey, Campbell, Lokando, Gracey, Douglas, Dagher, Dauti, Palmer, Hammond (Melton), Bonnett (Healey).
Unused: Shittu, Mojeed, Nicholas
Today’s other scores:
AFC Sudbury 0-2 Thamesmead Town
Brentwood Town 1-2 Grays Athletic
Chatham Town 2-1 Waltham Abbey
Enfield Town 1-1 Cheshunt
Great Wakering Rovers 1-1 Soham Town Rangers
Heybridge Swifts 0-3 Redbridge
Potters Bar Town 3-2 Tilbury
Romford 1-1 Needham Market
Waltham Forest 2-0 Harlow Town
Ware 2-1 Ilford
Man of the Match: Antone Douglas (Waltham Forest)
Rod Lewis’ Photos:
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Andrzej Perkins’ Photos:
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