Enfield 2 Little Oakley 0 (AET)
Buildbase FA Vase 1st Round Replay
Tuesday 16th October
Enfield were finally able to crack a resolute Little Oakley on Tuesday evening, with the replay, just like the original tie on Saturday, needing extra time before a winner could be decided. Enfield made sure that they booked a home tie with Leverstock Green in the 2ndRound after Reece Barrett and Ayo Odukoya both notched in the extra period.
The E’s were out of the blocks straight away; Barrett’s first touch saw him turn and cannon a shot wide inside the opening minute. After that the E’s then continued to pepper the Acorns penalty box, which kept Sam Sims and his defence busy; but nothing clear-cut was created. And it was to be the visitors who had the first real chance; a fine passing move ending with Matt Williams getting off a low shot that Jayden Hocking-Rising, who had played upfront in the original tie, getting down low to save. This was no stand-in business, Hocking-Rising has donned the gloves in a few games this term and showed safe hands all evening, going on to make several important saves.
Barrett delivered a decent cross in the 15th minute that needed to be headed away and the resulting corner nearly connected with Odukoya’s head. After that near miss Odukoya then got a shot off soon afterwards that Lewis Woods deflected away. This corner ended falling to Joe Johnson who rifled a shot narrowly wide. At the other end and the Acorns gave their hosts a scare in the 20th minute when Frank Selwyn had a shot that struck the frame.
Billy Haspineall and Barrett continued delivering good balls into the Little Oakley box that kept Sims busy; and the Acorns stopper had to be at his best to tip away an Odukoya free kick. However the E’s maybe should have made better use of the ball when Odukoya and Jay Stavri exchanged passes, splitting the Oakley defence, but then by getting in each other’s way allowed the visitors to regroup and clear their lines. Luck certainly wasn’t with the E’s when they finally got the ball in the back of the net only for it to be immediately ruled out as the Assitant Official on the far side had his flag up for offside.
The visitors were soaking up a fair bit of pressure, but did launch the occasional forward foray; they went at Enfield in the 42nd minute, won them a corner, which ended with Woods heading the resulting set-piece over the bar. The E’s however had two more attempts at the Little Oakley goal before the half was out, a header from Matt Thoma and a low shot from Odukoya that were both wide. The E’s had looked comfortable on the ball, had therefore had most of the possession and maybe should have been leading at the break.
The E’s started the second half with aplomb. Stavri nearly set himself up inside the first minute of the re-start, flicking the ball over the advancing Sims, running onto the loose ball and then flashing his shot across the Little Oakley goal. It really should have been nestling in the back of the net as Stavri had done the hard work but then rushed his shot. A deft chip over the Little Oakley defence found Johnson in a good position but he could only drill his shot wide. The E’s were starting to knock on the door, but Hocking-Rising had to be wise to a Woods header in the 57th minute which he tipped over.
The E’s had the ball in the back of the net again at the hour mark, as Odukoya made good with a ball played into his path, slotting beyond the keeper only for the Assistant Referee on the near side to now raise his flag for offside. You did start to wonder whether fate was going to serve up a cruel hand to the E’s. As it was the hosts had another good effort, as Odukoya plucked the ball down from the air, laid it off to Johnson, but the E’s Skipper cannoned the shot into the side-netting.
Hocking-Rising was again called upon in the 70th minute, getting down low to palm away a Luke Mayhew shot; the visitors then launched another break four minutes later with the cross into the six-yard box requiring Hocking-Rising to make two attempts at catching the ball whilst under pressure from Selwyn.
The original game on Saturday had seen the final ten minutes full of end-to- end action, and the Replay went the same way with Clifford Newby-Harris blazing over in the 80th minute; four minutes later and Ash Wood found space to unleash but Hocking-Rising blocked. The final minute then saw Wood have another crack, his shot from distance sailing over the bar. And stoppage time saw no let off either, as Kevin Bonganga put a cross into Little Oakley’s six-yard box that Wood shunted away, launching a final counter-attack, a sweeping ball into the Enfield box that Hocking-Rising punched clear but then had to block the rebound that was fired goal ward by Wood.
Penalties are always looming when a game reaches Extra-Time, and in this instance here were two teams that had been at it for over three hours and were still no nearer to finding a winner. Unlike Saturday’s game neither side had so far scored in this game, so penalties loomed very large indeed as the extra period started: both teams opened up as it happens with purpose. Newby-Harris struck a shot just over, then Little Okaley replied with a Ben Gallifant cross-shot requiring Hocking-Rising to make a full-stretch dive to make the ball safe.
The deadlock was finally broken in the 103rd minute when Odukoya delivered a deep cross that Barrett tapped in at the back post.
Odukoya nearly took the game out of Little Oakley’s reach with five minutes remaining, but on that occasion could only poke his shot wide. But the tie was finally won when Odukoya punished some awful defending, that allowd his to steal the ball and lash it past Sam Sims. Finally the Essex Senior League side were able to conquer their Eastern Senior League Division One South opponents. It had taken four hours of cut and thrust football to declare a winner. Having come through this the E’s must now be thinking that they have enough resilience to maybe press on and have a memorable Vase run.
Enfield: Jayden Hocking-Rising, Josh Flynn, Billy Haspineall, Joe Johnson (Capt), Matt Thoma (Chris Gormley 89’), Alex Cruckshank, Kevin Bonganga, Sharn Quinn (Jordan William 61’), Ayo Odukoya, Reece Barrett, Jay Stavri (Henry Williams 114’)
Scorers – Reece Barrett (103’), Ayo Odukoya (118’)
Little Oakley: Sam Sims, Rory Harman, Matt Bedford, Mark Palmer, Lewis Woods (Capt), Harry Windred, Matt Williams (Chris Wall 59’), Ash Wood, Frank Selwyn (Jay Eggerichs 69’), Lee Barrett (Ben Gallifant 65’) (Toby Barrowcliffe 107’), Luke Mayhew.
