Waltham Forest 2-3 Basildon United
Forest were unable to stop table-toppers Basildon despite a spirited performance.
The visitors made the early inroads, and could have been ahead inside a minute. Elie Mbangu dithered on the ball on the edge of the Forest box allowing Shomari Barnwell to be slipped inside. However, the Bees forward’s shot was off target, clipping the outside of the post.
At the other end, Prince Madu reversed the roles, robbing a Basildon defender but his shot was straight at the visiting keeper.
Just six minutes into the game Forest were awarded a penalty after some pinball in the box saw the ball hit the hand of a Basildon defender. Charlie Gregory rolled the ball home for his third goal of the season.
But Forest’s joy was short-lived. Mtyanda was able to get on the end of a low cross and a fortunate deflection off Miguel Lopes de Matos took the ball over Alex Catana.
And soon later Basildon were ahead. Gregory gave away a cheap free-kick and Barnwell made amends for his early error, heading in unmarked at the back post.
Patrick Ruzicka went close with a long-range effort before half time, but Forest went in behind at the break.
The second half didn’t have the same urgency as the first, and it took until the hour-mark before any serious goalmouth action. Forest allowed Barnwell too much space on the edge of the box, and he was able to feed Brad Warner who made no mistake with the finish.
Basildon looked far more likely to add a fourth, but out of nothing Forest found a way back into the game.
Ruzicka poked a tidy ball through to Lopes de Matos, with the left-back able to steer a low shot past the keeper.
Forest huffed and puffed, but were limited to a number of long-range efforts, with the Bees defence standing strong.
Video footage thanks to @essexfootie.
