Saturday 8th November, 2025 | Buckhurst Hill 3-0 West Essex | Essex Senior League Premier | Attendance : 151
By Harry Biggs
Mark Williams’ Buckhurst Hill side made it three consecutive victories in all competitions after a 3-0 triumph of West Essex in front of a well-supported crowd at Roding Lane.
Match-day commentary returned to Stags action with the return of Biggzy to Roding Lane alongside a Buckhurst Hill side that saw two changes from the 4-1 victory over Benfleet last time out. Captain Ollie Williams was unavailable and would be for the next few games, so in came George Edwards, with Ollie Fernandez able to move into the midfield. Liam Foster came into the side and wore the armband to lead The Stags out on Remembrance Day with the defender coming in for Jack Johnson, who was named on the bench. The substitutes bench looked very strong as well, with the young Devine Samuel named alongside Alfie Harris, Josh Banfield, who returned from injury, the mentioned Jack Johnson and Archie Hammond, who rejoined the club just that afternoon.
Onto the game now, and prior to kick off, both sets of players and supporters came together in a two-minute silence for Remembrance Day, with the last post sounded around Roding Lane.
An early chance for one of our former men, Reece Lee Simpson, started the action with the first real chance of the game inside just two minutes, with Christian North called into action to make the save to deny West Essex of an early opener. The Stags responded with a chance of their own when a brilliant attack went by without punishing the visitors when Liam Foster delivered the ball to the back post, but the boys at the back post couldn’t finish the chance and weren’t able to put Buckhurst Hill into the lead.
Christian North was called into action yet again before the clock had even reached ten minutes. Another save was made by The Stags’ keeper to deny West Essex.
A wonderful effort from Callum Maltese nearly gave The Stags the advantage a few minutes after North’s most recent save after his volley from range went inches wide of the post, with the crowd on the edge of their seats at that moment. North kept the visitors at bay again when he pulled off yet another great save to deny West Essex just after the twentieth minute.
The breakthrough finally came for Buckhurst Hill just before the half-hour mark when in-form star boy Harry Lusher netted yet another goal to give The Stags the lead. The ball was crossed into the box towards Lusher, whose first initial effort on the header was blocked, but the rebound was deflected into the roof of the net to give Buckhurst Hill the lead and Harry Lusher his sixth goal in Buckhurst Hill colours.
It wasn’t long before The Stags were able to double the lead, and it took just thirteen minutes after Lusher’s goal for Arthur Massingham to grab Buckhurst Hill’s second of the afternoon. Massingham was given acres of space on the edge of the are,a and our young winger was able to cut inside and hit the ball goalwards, burying his shot under the keeper to make it just his second goal for our first team and another goal for one of our own.
After that goal, The Stags would go into the break with a two-goal advantage, and after another great half, they would look to hold on for the second forty-five.
Onto the second half now, and the gaffer decided to make a change a few minutes into the second half, with goalscorer Arthur Massingham replaced by another young star in Devine Samuel in the only half-time switch for The Stags, with the visitors making two changes to try and change the outcome of the game in the second half.
The Stags still controlled the action in the second half, and despite the visitors going forward well with Reece Lee Simpson and Micah Jackson being involved with some good build-up play, the strong back line held up and didn’t let the attack through.
Just after the hour mark, Mark turned to his bench and decided to make his second change of the afternoon, with Dimitri Nicolaou replaced by Josh Banfield, who returned from injury for the final twenty minutes or so after missing the game against Benfleet last time out.
A few minutes later, Ollie Fernandez had his shot deflected just wide of the post, with the midfielder earning The Stags a corner. Fernandez, who had already earned himself an assist that afternoon, had a magnificent performance in the middle of the pitch, and that performance won’t be forgotten.
Another change came for The Stags as we approached the final ten minutes of the game, with our other goalscorer Harry Lusher replaced by Jack Johnson, with Buckhurst Hill finishing the game with a more defensive approach to try and see the game out. Substitute Divine Samuel had his shot blocked a few minutes after the latest change from the bench, with The Stags pushing towards a third to finish the story of this game.
That third goal came with just one minute of normal time left to play, with Tyler Dolan getting himself on the scoresheet. Dolan picked up the ball after Callum Maltese’s shot was blocked on the edge of the box. Dolan was then able to finish the ball into the bottom corner to finish the game off for certain. Dolan then ran over to Biggzy with all of the team celebrating together to show what this club is really made of, with yet another game won by The Stags as they march on!
Finally, a massive thank you to the 151 supporters who joined us and took part in our Remembrance Day celebrations, including our young U6S who took part in a penalty shootout at half time with MP Dr Neil Hudson.
TEAM :
North 🧤, Foster ©, Edwards, Nicolaou, Knight, Brown, Massingham ⚽️, Fernandez, Lusher ⚽️, Maltese, Dolan ⚽️
SUBS :
Harris, Samuel (65’ – Massingham), Hammond, Johnson (81’ – Lusher), Banfield (69’ – Nicolaou)
NEXT GAME :
Saturday 15th November, 2025 – Saffron Walden Town (A) – Essex Senior League – KO 3PM