Waltham Forest 2-3 Bowers & Pitsea

Bowers & Pitsea had not lost so far season although two out three of those were draws.

The first half was a stop-start affair with the referee or maybe the players giving rise to a large amount of free kicks that stopped any flowing football.

Bowers looked in control most of the half with steady play and created a number of chances that went unpunished. Bowers’ Tom Hine hit a low cross through the six yard area that was missed by their striker being an example.

However the Forest stopper and the defenders looked comfortable and Forest’s Solomon Ofori was causing their right back no end of problems with his speed.

However pressure grew and the crowd could sense that a goal was due.

After 40 minutes it did come for Bowers after a through ball from the midfield created a little goal mouth scramble that saw their Ash Walker-Kyriacou lifting the ball into the top corner for the opener.

This action did lead to Forest creating pressure of their own with a fizzing cross by the outstanding Ofori but was not connected with and so the half closed with Forest behind but definitely not out of the game.

Half time talk centred around the opposition central defenders and how well organised Bowers were.

The second half seemed to carry on where the first had ended with a great point blank save by Ferhat Hussein who had an excellent match.
However it was Forest turn to pressure and this resulted in the linesman adjudging the ball had crossed the line in another goal mouth scramble, with Jose Agua getting the final touch.

The lack of free kicks helped both sides pick the tempo up but it was Forest who took the lead. This time a great ball through the middle from Stephen Ellery was hit first time by Agua. His shot was initially saved by the Bowers ‘keeper, but Agua laced the save into the back of the net 2-1 Forest and the momentum seemed to be with the home side.

However this lead was short lived as five minutes later a long range free kick hit the inside of the stanchion of the Forest goal before bouncing out and the Lino gave the goal.

Back to 2-2 with 20 minutes to play. A number of tough tackles and little real flair ensued but the game looked to be a draw when Bowers took all 3 points after another close range effort squeezed into the bottom corner.

Once more the final 10 minutes of the match proved the undoing of a great team effort. Forest have shown some real effort and skill but just need to shore things up at the finish.

Report by Peter Willoughby