Walthamstow 3-2 Waltham Abbey
Stow booked their place in a step four play-off for the first time in their history on a memorable night at Wadham Lodge. The game had initially been due to be played on Bank Holiday Monday 10 April, but was pushed back a day due to a soft pitch. It looked like it may have been the wrong decision, as a howling wind and driving rain threatened the abandonment of the game throughout, but the players coped remarkably well as the game went on and the pitch got softer and softer.
Stow set off like a freight train, and were two goals up within the first three minutes. The crowd had barely taken their positions when Callum Ibe cut inside and fired somewhere between the goal and Demaray Anyadike at the back post. The effort was probably going float harmlessly out for a goal kick, but Godson Mongwele’s attempt to block only ended with the Abbey defender diverting the ball into his own net.
Abbey and Mongwele’s evening went from bad to worse a minute later. He and Edwin Mensah failed to clear their lines on the edge of their box, and the ever-lively Ibe was there to divert Mensah’s dithering clearance into the path of Duncan Culley, who drove towards goal and rolled the ball comfortably past Elliott Krasniqi for his eleventh goal in 13 games since signing for Stow.
Stow had acclimatised to a slick pitch and the wind quicker than their visitors, but Abbey slowly grew into the game, and always looked threatening through Ben Baker down the left wing. More than once Abbey’s dangerman was able to cut inside, but his two first-half efforts were comfortable for Brad Robinson to deal with despite the wet surface.
Anyadike had a golden chance to make it three before the break, running onto a Robinson goal kick when everyone else on the field stopped, but Krasniqi was quick out of his goal and able to block the Stow winger’s one-on-one effort.
With the wind behind them, Stow were guilty of over-kicking almost everything in the second half, and were punished on the hour when Baker got his reward for a good performance. Stow’s defence missed a clearance on half way, allowing Baker to break through and finish easily past a stranded Robinson.
Ten minutes later the scores were level, when Richard Asamoah was played in on the right-hand edge of the Stow box. He took a second to compose himself before firing coolly past Robinson into the bottom left-hand corner.
It looked like there was only going to be one winner from here, and it wasn’t Stow. But the introduction of Fabion Simms and George Ironton in midfield shored things up a bit, and allowed Stow to claw themselves back in the game. Ibe went closest to putting his side back ahead after winning the ball back and beating two defenders, but he fired over when off-balance, twelve yards from goal.
In the reverse fixture on Boxing Day, Stow took all three points thanks to a last-gasp winner, and that proved to be the case again here. A long throw into the Abbey box was only partially cleared, and it eventually fell to Anyadike on the corner of the penalty area. He brought the ball inside, and curled a magnificent effort into the top corner, leaving Krasniqi with no chance, and sparking wild celebrations on and off the field.
In truth, the three points were probably a little more than Stow deserved. But as they have proved so many times this season, if you keep going to the final whistle, you’ll end up on the right side of the result more often than not.
