West Essex 6 Buckhurst Hill 1
Saturday 13th August
Essex Senior League
It was really a case of a bad day at the office as Buckhurst Hill came crushing back down to earth after last weekend’s fabulous result against Walthamstow in the FA Cup. Hosts West Essex came away with a 6-1 win without really having to work too hard for it if truth be told.
It took only two minutes for West Essex to open the scoring; Cameron Gray picked up a loose ball just outside the box and lashed it past Daniel Blockley. Immediately after scoring West Essex then created another opportunity which saw Mo Kaudeer have a shot blocked by Sam Sollosi.
Slowly thought the Stags did come into it, having cut off West Essex’s supply meant they were now able to get some forward momentum going, which did result in winning two free kicks. The first by Ted Buchanen swept across the West Essex box, ended up pinging around before being thumped clear; the second came after Suley Zuhdu was hauled down and he had a go with the freekick, a low one which Arthur Leblond saved. Callum Bloss had a free kick for the hosts, but his shot cannoned into the wall and was then cleared.
The next clear cut chance came the hosts’ way on 24 minutes when David Bell was able to have a shot-on-the-turn that blazed over the cross bar. Two minutes later and the Stags had worked the way into the West Essex box which ended with Ezekiel Bademosi poking a low shot narrowly wide, and the same player then bustled his way into the opposition box before firing off a shot that was blocked.
But just when it looked like we were working ourselves back into it, we then suddenly found ourselves further pegged back as Gray again struck, his second goal almost a carbon copy of his first, picking up a loose ball from outside the box and ramming it past Blockley on 37 minutes.
But we responded by creating perhaps our best chance of the game thus far, a fast paced ball ended up with Bademosi whose shot forced Leblond to dive high to his left to keep out. And while Bell at the other end managed to twice have shots blocked, the better chances as the half entered the closing minutes came our way as twice we tested their keeper. Zuhdu had a low freekick tipped away, then in stoppage time cut in and fired off another low shot that again tested Leblond.
The second half saw the Stags continue on the front foot and within two second half minutes had cut the deficit. From a corner, Max Nicholson was able to poke a shot home and all of a sudden things were looking up. The next attack saw Bademosi flash a shot across West Essex’s goalmouth.
But one way to steal a team’s thunder is to score against them and West Essex duly did that in the 63rd minute. In all fairness it was a wonder strike as Bloss let fly with a left foot shot that swerved around Blockley and crashed into the top left hand corner of the net. And that really did take the wind out of our sails as we were only able to get a few balls into the opposition box, without really testing Leblond.
Not quite the same at the other end as Bell poked home a shot in the 74th minute to make it 4-1. It became 5-1 on 87 minutes when Marlon Ortiz paced into the box before slotting a shot into the bottom corner. And it didn’t end their either as in stoppage time Tyler Morgan was hauled down in the box and Bloss heaped more misery on the Stags by converting the penalty to make it a convincing 6-1 West Essex win.
Buckhurst Hill: Daniel Blockley, Alfie Harris, (Dylan Florence 77′) Ted Buchanen, Keaton Moore, Max Nicholson, Louis Wynter (Jack Griggs 45′), Sam Sollosi, (Fehinti Falola 74′) Josh Banfield (Capt), Ezekiel Bademosi, Suley Zuhdu (Liam Foster 74′), Nathan Sollosi (Sonny Shilling 57′).
Scorer – Max Nicholson (47′)
