West Essex 1 Great Wakering Rovers 2

Buildbase FA Vase 2nd Qualifying Round

Report by Scott Lanza

West Essex took time out from leading the Essex Senior League to take on league rivals Great Wakering at Mayesbrook Park. A scintillating first half saw West Essex reduced to ten men, fall behind to a penalty, reply almost instantly with a superb free kick, then have their manager also dismissed.

The visitors came out the blocks and forced a succession of early corners with a Samuel Carter header going the closest, being mere inches too high. Jake Gordon also instigated a nice passing move that saw him knock the ball to the right flank where Neil Richmond was waiting to knock it back into the middle requiring Daniel Russell to show safe hands as he dived to cut out the cross.

But Wakering then took the lead in controversial circumstances when Kofi Appiah made a last-ditch tackle to dispossess Gordon who went over from the challenge. That was enough for the referee to point to the spot, angering the West Essex bench, whose anger was then raised even further when he produced a straight red card to Appiah. The resulting penalty was swept homw by Gordon but by then the damage was done as West Essex were now down to ten men and that was compounded a little while later when manager Kwame Kwateng was sent from the dug out.

West Essex were back on level terms four minutes later though when Joe Lefley crashed home a peach of a free kick into the top left hand corner. Great Wakering almost retook the lead a few minutes later but Richmond was not able to make a clean connection and he then outsped his marker and his a shot that clipped the post. Wakering’s wastefulness continued as Billy Johnson had a shot hit the post with Richmond somehow placing the rebound wide with the goal begging.

A West Essex counter-attack fell nicely to Mignot but Rees Hawkins spread himself to parry the ball away and then Wakering retook the lead in the 27th minute when a sweeping move set Richmond free and he took his chance, placing his shot under the West Essex keeper and making some amends for some of his earlier misses.

Remarkable West Essex almost equalised straight away as Mignot forced his way into a dangerous position and struck a fierce shot that Hawkins tipped away for a corner.

West Essex’s afternoon was then further impeded when the referee sent manager Kwame Kwateng from the dug out. Richmond then had the last effort of a scintillating half by connecting with a deep cross from the left flank that he volleyed narrowly over.

The hosts won a couple of early corners in succession to start the second half before Wakering went close themselves with a Gordon effort that sailed past the right upright.

However seeing as Great Wakering hadn’t put the game to bed meant that West Essex remained in the contest and they were able to push their opponentns towards their own eighteen-yard box. Despite this the hosts were not able to muster too many clear cut chances with Tom MacLeod perhaps producing the best efforts with a rasping drive that wasn’t too far off the target as well as hitting the woodwork with a header. Stephen Butterworth deleivered a nice ball into West Essex’s six-yard box that needed Josh Kane to block. Daniel Russell also had to pull off a good save to keep out Aaron Russell’s effort as Great Wakering looked to close the show.

The second half hadn’t been nearly as end-to-end as the first and Wakering perhaps invited pressure on themselves by not killing the game off. It meant that as the contest approached the final stages the hosts were trying to have one last go to salvage the game and they almost did that in stoppage time with a  Cameron Gray shot that Hawkins did well to save.

In the end Great Wakering did enough to book their place in the First Round but they could have made it a bit easier for themselves had they taken their chances in the first half. West Essex will feel that their Vase run came to an end due to having red cards issued to player and manager.

West Essex: Daniel Russell, Sanchez Hardy (Isaac Marfo 83′), Josh Kane, Tom MacLeod (Capt), Kobi Appiah, Daniel Christey, Michael Mignot, Brad Russell, Tom Woodbridge (Cameron Gray 57′), Joe Lefley, Fatos Zeqiri (Josh French 46′).

Scorer – Joe Lefley (14′)

Great Wakering Rovers: Rees Hawkins, Charlie Seaden (Stephen Butterworth 46′), Oliver Woodhouse, Scott Pethers (Capt), Louis Robinson, Samuel Carter (Chris Bryan 84′), Jason Ring, Ricky Evans, Neil Richmond, Jake Gordon (Aaron Russell 64′), Billy Johnson.

Scorers – Jake Gordon (12′ pen), Neil Richmond (28′)