Woodford Town 1 Clapton 1

Essex Senior League

Friday 11^th October

Clapton managed to salvage a point at the Harlow Arena on Friday evening as Woodford Town came to rue their missed chances in a game that they largely dominated in terms of possession, but Clapton showed that perhaps their lowly league position is a false situation and they have to be given a lot of credit for digging in and getting something out of the game.

In a cagey opening it was the Woods who had plenty of the ball, but they were not causing Jan Gomes the Clapton keeper too many problems, however his defence were certainly having to soak up and deal with the pressure. And it took until the quarter hour mark before the Tons were able to launch an attack. On that occasion a weighted pass from Jason Brown set Jayesh Gohil free, and with Alex Reed charging out of his goal and then being taken on and beaten by Gohil it suddenly looked ominous for the hosts, however the ball then ran away from Gohil before he was able to make good his taking on and beating of the Woods keeper.

With much of the play in midfield meant there was not much of note in the way of chances until the half hour point and again it was to be Clapton that managed to eke out a chance of sorts. Gohil again was played in and he worked his way into the box but Tola Odedoyin halted that run; moments later it was Woodford’s turn to carve out an opportunity as Juan Cardona received a decent ball and made a run into the Clapton box, however Brown stood his ground, won the ball back and cleared the Clapton lines.

Reed did have to pull off a save in the 35^th minute as Remzi Mahmoudi fired in a free kick that the Woods keeper saved relatively easily as the ball was aimed straight at him.

Both teams passed the ball nicely, but the defences were playing misers meaning the game became a bit of a chess match and in dire need of a goal to liven things up a bit.

It was to be the Woods who ended the half on the front foot. Starting with a three man move, that started with Georges Kebi who picked out Frankie Naidoo who then teed up Jaydon Charles, but Gomes got down low to tip the shot away. And soon afterwards the Woods saw a ball crossed in from the left just narrowly miss connecting with Cardona at the back post.

Woodford were now looking threatening and they were able to break the deadlock five minutes from half time as a deep cross from Francis Biyak was headed home by Odedoyin. And as is so often the case, having taken the lead, the Woods then very nearly doubled it when a minute later Samir Ali turned his marker and crossed a ball that Gomes spilled. Luckily for the Tons Cory Rider got to the ball first and cleared it from the area.

The Tons were able to craft a couple of efforts before the half was out. A cross whipped its way across the Woodford box resulting in Naidoo and Gomes both having a mid-air battle to get to the ball first. The Woods’ gloves man may have won that little battle, however before the half was out Ishunzadeh had time and space to fire off a shot from outside the box that was only narrowly too high.

Reed was called into action early in the second half as he twice had to rush out of his box to clear balls that had cleared his defence; in the 50^th minute it was Gomes who was charging off his line to kick away a Woods ball.

Woodford were wasteful in their next attack, when after some good approach play a final ball was rolled to Samir Ali who scuffed his shot wide. The Tons then went on a forward move on the hour with a nice ball played to Ishunzadeh whose run towards goal was ended by a well-timed tackle by Odedoyin. From that timely intervention the Woods then launched a counter-attack that ended with Charles having a header tipped round the post by Gomes. It was a fine save and effectively kept the Tons in the game and so as the half progressed the Tons kept pushing for an equaliser. They were to find the Woodford defence in no mood to allow that happeening, however Orlando Pedretti did deliver a brace of free kicks that tested the Woodford defence. Francis Biyak had a long range effort for Woodford clear the cross bar, while Ishunzadeh also had a shot from distance that was saved by Reed.

Morgan Seaman showed skill, poise and speed to get past his marker in the 78^th minute, then played a good ball across Clapton’s box which went begging. Had the final touch came it would have killed the Tons, but instead they then launched an attack that ended with Reed having to come out and claim a ball from the on-rushing Carlos Dos Santo.

The Tons were back on terms in the 84^th minute as Ishunzadeh had a shot that hit the cross bar, Francesco Cicconi pounced on the rebound with the final touch coming off a Woodford defender. That sent the Clapton players and bench into raptures, they were now on course to get something from the game.

However the Tons went on to almost win the game as in the final minute it needed a solid tackle from Seaman to take the ball off Dos Santo, who had taken the ball past Reed and was about to shoot so in many ways Seaman’s tackle made sure his side gained a point from the game; Clapton meanwhile took a point and very nearly took all three in the closing stages and put in a performance that suggests their current lowly position in the table is a false one, however they have posted another point which moves them a step further away from the drop zone. As for Woodford they are now 9^th.

Woodford Town: Alex Reed, Francis Biyak (Andrea Mantovani 62′), Josh Steele, Tola Odedoyin (Capt), Morgan Seaman, Georges Kebi, Frankie Naidoo, Hussain Isa, Samir Ali, Jayden Charles (Reidha Zekhi 62′), Juan Cardona (Dion Lewis-Kirwan 46′).

Scorer – Tola Odedoyin (40′).

Clapton: Jan Gomes, Jordan Cornelius (Capt), Jason Brown, Orlando Pedretti (Carlos Dos Santo 74′), Cory Rider, Isaac Charles, Romzi Mahmoudi, Luan Calegaro (Blecan Ademi 56′), Francesco Cicconi, Baseer Ishunzadeh, Jayesh Gohil (Mario Gjini 78′).

Scorer – Own Goal (84′).