Buckhurst Hill FC 1-0 Romford FC
20th April 2024 | Essex Senior Premier League | Att: 120
By Harry Biggs.
A brilliant day for Buckhurst Hill and everyone involved with the club as they came away with a 1-0 victory against Wembley-bound Romford FC.
The Stags and Mark opted for a nearly fully changed lineup which involved many of our reserve players, a few who earned their first start for the first team. Kickoff and the visitors Romford started very well with former Stags player Hassan Nalbant just missing the target. It took 11 minutes for a team to create a dangerous faze and after a careless free kick was given away to the visitors we were lucky to get away without a Romford goal.
13 minutes in now and The Stags get their first real chance of the game as Yacine’s effort is just placed wide. Romford were the next team to create some chances as Daniels made two brilliant clearances as The Stags tried to clear their lines. The visitors were also forced into an early substitution which nearly paid off as two dangerous set pieces hit the post by a commanding Romford defender. Just before the break Clark had a shot just wide of the visitors’ goal as the teams went in at 0-0.
Straight from the off in the second half and Romford had a shot which was brilliantly saved by the Buckhurst Hill keeper Deurishaj, who had one of his best performances in a blue and black shirt. It took another 10 minutes for another attacking phase of play in the game this time for The Stags as a free kick was swung in and after 5 players attacked the ball the Boro keeper somehow managed to hang onto the ball to prevent a certain Buckhurst Hill goal. The Stags were really going for it now and were piling on the pressure towards a tempting-looking Romford goal in front of the Sherrin clubhouse end. Romford then countered and forced Daruishaj into making an incredible save, which ended up being vital towards a Buckhurst Hill three points. A few minutes later Williams intercepted the ball in the middle of the park and Samuels drove towards goal but a visitors defender easily intercepted it.
The Stags were at their most dangerous on the counter and with Lamb through on goal a Boro defender took him out but the referee didn’t see anything wrong with the challenge and decided to let play go on which obviously didn’t go down well with the Buckhurst Hill home support. After consulting with physio Steve, Lamb could not continue and had to be subbed after just coming on only a few minutes before. After 82 minutes Buckhurst Hill were looking more dangerous than ever and after a promising counter-attack, Yacine finally opened the scoring to make it 1-0 to The Stags. Buckhurst Hill managed to hold on for the last 8 minutes of the game and earned a deserved 3 points.
After the game, I spoke to manager Mark Williams who said “ he was very proud of his team and the character they all showed.”
A special shout-out to a few mini Buckhurst Hill supporters who could be heard throughout the whole game (shown in picture above)
