Ilford 1 Woodford Town 0

Premier Division

Saturday 22^nd February

A Chris Cordara-Soanes goal two minutes from time was enough to see Ilford take all the points in a scrappy game at Cricklefield which was spoiled by a strong wind that wrecked havoc and made it very difficult for either team.

The Woods had more of the early possession without really testing the Ilford keeper. That changed in the 16^th minute when Andrea Mantovani blazed a shot over. The hosts rallied immediately and launched their own attack which ended up with Andre Embalo having a low shot tipped around the post by Alex Read.

As the half continued, and with the wind picking up, meant that there were to be very few chances, with Woodford having the majority of them. Yemi Ogunfunmilade played a nice one-two with Marcus Painter which split the Ilford defence, but the return ball back to Ogunfunmilade was then lashed wide. Then a Jordan Sanderson free kick was met by a Tola Odedoyin header which Graham Loki did well to save.

The Woods almost took the lead in the final minute of the half, with a wind-assisted ball falling kindly to Dimitrious Kapsokostas whose shot was cleared off the line.

Ilford started the second half brightly and Colombus Ayayi had a shot blocked by the Woodford defence; then Jevoy Blair had a shot from distance that Read cut-out. Ope Masura poked a shot wide from a corner in the 55^th minute as the hosts continued to press.

However the Woods almost capitalised on a wind-assisted ball that caught out the Ilford defence, allowing Wale Odedoyin to get a sniff of goal, however he wasn’t able to keep his shot down and it sailed over the cross bar.

Jordan Fisher placed a header over the bar in the 70^th minute and the hosts continued to pose a threat from set-pieces and three minutes later another Foxes corner was rifled wide by Chris Manangu.

The visitors then saw Ogunfunmilade and Wale Odedoyin both have shots blocked in the 78^th minute which spurned them on and in the 86^th minute the Woods had the Ilford defence in a panic as a ball floated and pinged around the Ilford box with Wale Odedoyin and Lauric Diakiesse both having headers blocked.

The all-important goal finally came in the 88^th minute as an Ilford corner floated towards the back post with Cordara-Soanes getting enough of a final touch to divert the ball beyond Read and into the net. In truth it was a game that won’t live long in the memory, but for the hosts it is another win and a clean sheet that moves up to 10^th, while Woodford Town slip down to 12^th.

Ilford: Graham Loki, Ryan Cosson (Capt), Chris Cordara-Soanes, Ahmedi Mohammed, Jordan Fisher, Columbus Ayayi, Jeffrey Cobblah (Anastasius Antoniou 79′), Ope Masura, Larry Akanbi, Jevoy Blair (Chris Manangu 64′), Andre Embalo (Foday Jaiteh 82′).

Scorer – Chris Cordara-Soanes (88′).

Woodford Town: Alex Read, Tola Odedoyin, Frankie Lecheri, Jordan Sanderson (Capt), Jack Newbury-Neale, Joshua Steele, Dimitrious Kapsokostas, Andrea Mantovani, Yemi Ogunfunmilade, Eddie Mombanza (Lauric Diakiesse 82′), Marcus Painter (Wale Odedoyin 46′).