Points shared at the death

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Tuesday 22nd October, 2024 | Buckhurst Hill 3-3 Sawbridgeworth Town | Essex Senior League Premier | Attendance : 57

By Harry Biggs

A disappointing game for The Stags under the lights after conceding two goals to 17th place Sawbridgeworth Town in an eventful 90 minutes which saw Buckhurst Hill miss out on the opportunity to go 7th for the first time in their Essex Senior League career.

Adam Connolly was the main man on the touchline for The Stags on Tuesday night after Mark was unavailable. Adam made 4 changes to our defeat to Stanway Rovers last time out with Quincy Warner dropping to the bench and was replaced by Alfie Harris who would come in to captain the side after Ollie Williams being unavailable. Williams was replaced by Lucas Willison in the midfield while George Thompson would make an appearance for Buckhurst Hill for the first time since our away trip to FC Clacton earlier this month. Youcef Tacine would come back to make the bench for The Stags and Jonah Gregory would return to Adam’s side and would make an appearance with less than 30 minutes to go for the second time this season.

Onto the action now and inside the first minute Toby Smith was launched straight into action saving a promising effort from a Sawbridgeworth attacker. Smith would play a key role throughout the 90 minutes and would turn out to be our Stags Man Of The Match for our encounter with Sawbridgeworth.

The Stags would open the scoring inside just 4 minutes when George Thompson was played a brilliant pass by Smith which would go right into the Sawbridgeworth penalty area and Thompson fired Buckhurst Hill into the lead with an unstoppable effort to mark his return with a bang.

It was 2-0 to Adam’s side just 5 minutes later after Tyreece Robertson was played through on goal and he wasn’t going to miss from close range firing Buckhurst Hill to a 2 goal lead. Buckhurst Hill should’ve made it 3 after 16 minutes when Robertson was played through on goal again but this time he skewed his effort and somehow put his shot wide.

It would not be the most of convincing halves for Buckhurst Hill after good spells going forward but were being left vulnerable at the back and Toby Smith was called on multiple times in the first half and would make an unbelievable save after 29 minutes, a powerful shot was sent the way of Smith by the visitors and deflected off the leg of Ogunsanya which was headed goalwards, the keeper had to readjust and push the effort over the bar.

Harris would have a rare shot for The Stags a few minutes later but unfortunately for him the effort was miles over the bar. Robertson would go close for Buckhurst Hill next after being played clear through on goal and tried to chip the Sawbridgeworth keeper but Tyreece didn’t get under the effort well enough and it was easily into the palms of the visitors keeper.

The second half now saw Sawbridgeworth grab one back after just 5 minutes of the restart to make it 2-1 when Kiernan David was given too much space and was able to slot his effort into the bottom corner of Smith’s net. After 58 minutes saw the return of Youcef Tacine & Jonah Gregory to the pitch after spells of absence recently.

5 minutes later and Smith would be called into action yet again after having to stop a dangerous set piece from the visitors who were looking for an equaliser and had the momentum.

George Thompson should’ve put the game to bed for Buckhurst Hill just a few minutes after Smith’s heroics in net after he was played through on goal and tried to place his shot into the bottom corner but the effort was tipped round the post by the Sawbridgeworth keeper who had just grabbed Sawbridgeworth a lifeline.

The Stags thought they had claimed all 3 points at the 85th minute mark after debut man Okechukwu slotted the ball into the side netting for Buckhurst Hill and would gain his first goal in black and blue. It should’ve been 4 for The Stags right after the restart when Dan Jones skewed his effort wide of the post and Buckhurst Hill would still have to worry about what was to come.

Sawbridgeworth grabbed another back inside the 3rd minute of a supposed 4 minutes of added time which had been indicated by the referee. Elijah Mambombe was the goal scorer for the visitors after placing his shot pass past Smith to grab the visitors even more hope of a late equalizer.

We would end up going 5 minutes over our added time schedule with only one stoppage and one last chance would come for the visitors after a bizarre scenario which saw the linesman award a free kick to The Stags but the referee disagreed and gave Buckhurst Hill a throw which was poorly taken and Kiernan David picked the ball up for the visitors and was given miles too much time and space to drive through The Buckhurst Hill XI and would pass the ball round Smith too top things off with the visitors grabbing a point from Buckhurst Hill at Myark Park.

TEAM :
Smith 🧤, Foyewa, Buchanan, Ogunsanya, Harris ©️, Willison, Jones 🟨, Hammond 🟨, Thompson ⚽, Padington, Robertson ⚽ 🟨

SUBS :
Tacine (58’ – Padington), Okechukwu ⚽ (78’ – Robertson), Gregory 🟨 (58’ – Ogunsanya), Warner (78’ – Hammond)

UP NEXT
Friday 25th October – Barking (A) – Essex Senior League

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