Waltham Forest 8-1 Southend Manor

Waltham Forest recorded their biggest league victory since the 2004-5 season, with an 8-1 demolition of Southend Manor.

It took a while to Forest to get going, with debutant Callum Holder going closest with a long-range effort which fell wide. But once they did, Forest dominated from start to finish.

Solomon Ofori gave his side the lead, curling in a low shot from around the penalty spot after he was quickest to react to a Luke Ifil free-kick which dropped in the box.

Manor played an extremely high line all match, which played into Forest’s hands. Ofori broke the offside trap and unselfishly squared the ball to Hassana Traore to tap the ball into an empty net.

Ofori then broke through again, running almost from the half-way line before sending the keeper the wrong way and firing into the vacant goal.

Forest then scored with almost every attack. Hassana Traore’s tame long-range effort was only deflected by the Manor keeper into the path of Flatie Traore, whose pin-point follow-up evaded both keeper and defender on the line.

Hassana Traore got his second of the game, with a sublime finish from just inside the area after a perfect pass from Holder, before Ofori secured his hattrick from a scissor kick from the edge of the area.

Half time could not come soon enough for Manor, but Ifil managed to get his second goal in two games with a deflected effort from just outside the box.

The second half was far more subdued, with Manor showing a lot more fight and Forest happy to rest on their advantage.

Ofori had a number of chances in the second half, and Flatie Traroe hit the bar, after Hassana had extended the lead to eight with a spot-kick after being taken down in the box.

Manor got a goal their second half performance deserved close to the end of the match, and despite their dominance, Forest were unable to add to their tally of eight goals.