Walthamstow 5 Sporting Bengal United 1

Premier Division

Saturday 28^th August

Walthamstow were made to work at times on Saturday against Sporting Bengal, but in the end showed their firepower to win at a canter. With Jason Hallett missing from duty meant that Stow had to rely on goals coming from elsewhere and they have the ability to score goals from all oveer the park as Bengal were to find to their cost.

Sporting Bengal, under new manager Shipon Miah set their stall early, looking to defend in strength, which they did, and to try and catch Stow on the counter. For the first ten minutes they had looked comfortable on the ball and had even managed to get a couple of crosses into the Stow box.

On 12 minutes though all that changed. A ball into Bengal’s box was punched clear by Bilal Ali Khan, but it was reworked back to Adalberto Pinto who played a one-two with Yemi Adelani, before finishing off the move by whizzing past two defenders and then slotting the ball past the keeper. A fine well-worked goal and Stow, who at that point had been a bit stunted upfront, were now ready to roll.

Bengal though had other ideas. Josh George cleared the next Stow ball that came into the Bengal box and then slowly they started to come out of their shell. Samir Ali went on a run that took him inside the Stow box before being dispossessed. Gianfranco Mici picked out Ali with a cross soon afterwards which was volleyed wide, then Terry Amoafo had a low shot that was tipped away by Amarildo Cekrezi. At the half way stage Bengal had kept Stow quiet since falling behind and they had another attack in the 32^nd minute. Samir Ali was again involved, managing to get a cross over to Gidewon Essar who then had a volley superbly saved by Cekrezi. A minute later and a Stow free kick into the box was headed wide by Adebola Sotoyinbo.

There was then a long delay as Selch Ulug went down injured. He was replaced in the 40^th minute by Donald Bushi, who almost made an instant impression on the game as he poked a shot wide within seconds of coming on.

But Stow had time to put together two more decent moves, with Harrison Carnegie involved in them both. He found space down the left wing to deliver a couple of crosses, one of which was collected by the Bengal keeper, the other headed wide by Connor Scully.

The fact Stow went in 1-0 at the break was due to Sporting Bengal digging in and giving their opponents a tough game. It was also due to Cekrezi being a reliable keeper to call upon when needed, and he had to be at his best to deny Amoafo seconds before the half was over. A long range effort that was making its way towards the net had Cekrezi not dived at full-stretch to tip it round the post. At half time it was still very much anyones game and the points were their for the taking.

Stow really got into their flow within two minutes of the re-start. A ball inside the Bengal box was placed beyond Bilal Ali Khan by Carnegie and it put the hosts in a very commanding position. Would finding themselves 2-0 down now deflate Sporting Bengal?

Initially not, as Bengal did come back at Walthamstow. A few minutes after conceeding they were able to test Cekrezi twice. The first a long range effort from Amoafa was fired straight at the Stow keeper. Mici’s shot wasn’t though, it was aimed towards the top right hand corner and the Stow keeper showed amazing agility to be able to keep it out. Cekrezi has collected four clean sheets in his last four games, and as Bengal were finding out, it will take something quite special to beat him. Bengal’s heads still hadn’t dropped at the hour mark and had they got a goal they would have been right back in it. In the 62^nd minute Mici drilled a shot inches wide.

But it all then fell apart in drastic fashion for the bottom team. Thomas Tadese tripped Adelani in the box, which won Stow a penalty. Tadese was then shown the red card and Sotoyinbo made the affair even worse from a Bengal point of view as he sent the keeper the wrong way en route to converting his penalty. In the 72^nd minute Scully played a ball out wide to Airon Paul, he played it back to Scully who then drilled the ball home.

And it then became 5-0 on 75 minutes when Jason Beck unleasheed from the edge of the box and the ball ended up in the bottom right hand corner of the net.

Any chance of getting anything out of the game was now snatched from Bengal’s hands and they now had to be careful not to concede further. Bilal Ali Khan did well to keep out a Sotoyinbo shot in the 79^th minute, then Joe Wright fired a shot over the cross-bar.

As it was Bengal were able to get a consolation in the 85^th minute. Mici was tripped in the box and fired the resulting penalty past Cekrezi. But there was no way back for Bengal who had been brushed aside with three goals in a nine minute spell that knocked out their resiliance. The win shows that Stow can tough it out, and they had to at times, but it also demonstrates that they can create chances and scores goals from all over the park. Sporting Bengal remain bottom after this but showed plenty of fight, and the result is perhaps a bit harsh on them as they certainly at half time at least were in with a shout of getting something from the game. They will need to posts points to the table soon though as they don’t want to find themselves bottom and pointless for too much longer. Stow don’t have those worries of course, they are sitting 2^nd , having won five from five and placing themselves down as early season front-runners.

Walthamstow: Amarildo Cekrezi, Courtney Homans, Tommy Spillane, Moses Carvalho, Tommy Fletcher (Emmanuel Okunja 70′), Jason Beck, Harrison Carnegie, Adalberto Pinto (Capt) (Airon Paul 67′), Yemi Adelani, Connor Scully (Joe Wright 78′), Adebola Sotoyinbo.

Scorers – Adalberto Pinto (12′), Harrison Carnegie (47′), Adebola Sotoyinbo (66’p) Connor Scully (72′), Jason Beck (75′).

Sporting Bengal United: Bilal Ali Khan (Capt), Yusef Khan, Mahein Zaman, Thomas Tadese, Josh George, Selch Ulug (Donald Bushi 40′), Terry Amoafo (Nazmul Ahmed 67′), Syed Tanvir Ahmed, Samir Ali (Clyde Semazzi 78′), Gianfranco Mici, Gidewon Essar.

Scorer – Gianfranco Mici (85’p).

Essex Senior League

Athletic Newham 6 St Margaretsbury 1

Cockfosters 1 Hoddesdon Town 0

Enfield 4 Ilford 2

Little Oakley 1 Takeley 0

Redbridge 0 Stansted 1

Saffron Walden Town 4 West Essex 1

Southend Manor 1 Clapton 0

Stanway Rovers 4 FC Clacton 4

White Ensign 2 Woodford Town 3

Saturday 28^th August

Saffron Walden Town remain top of the table after a 4-1 win over West Essex. Will McClelland’s brace was added to by goals from Alfie Hilton and Gavin Cockman. Moyo Ajibade scored for West Essex. Redbridge slip down to 5^th after they were beaten by a solitary Paul Clayton goal that came in the 4^th minute, and the 1-0 win moves Stansted up to 3^rd. Harry Mann scored for Little Oakley as they beat Takeley by the same 1-0 scoreline; Jordan Russell the Southend Manor scorer in their 1-0 win over Clapton; while Cockfosters also won 1-0 against Hoddesdon Town with Charncey Dash supplying the goal in the 89^th minute. Plenty of goals over at Newham Athletic; there were seven scored in all with Richard Kone claiming four of them! It was team matee Joel Appiah who first breached St Margaretsbury’s defences, taking only 3 minutes in which to do so. Kone then scored his first goal in the 25^th minute, adding a second five minutes later. Kone completed his hat-trick eight minutes into the second half, with Appiah scoring his second in the 63^rd minute, before Kone then signed off with his fourth goal on 72 minutes. St Margaretsbury managed a consolation through Roddy Lemba in the 89^th minute. The win moves Athletic Newham up to 8^th. And plenty of goals over at Stanway Rovers as they had a 4-4 draw with FC Clacton that saw the visitors at one points have a 3-0 lead. Amongst that tally was one goal from Charlie Collis, the other two had come via own goals. But Stanway then staged an amazing comeback that started with Adrian Cant pulling one back in the 48^th minute. He pulled another one back on the hour, then Joel Older levelled up in the 76^th minute. Stanway were then handed the lead, via an own goal of all things, but the visitors were able to claim a point back as Jordan Lartey provided an equaliser five minutes from time. Stanway finish the day in 5^th, with FC Clacton further back in 9^th. Enfield move up one place to 11^th after a 4-2 win over Ilford, which saw the E’s come out the blocks early as they were 2-0 up inside five minutes. Jack Folan and Alex Warman were the marksman for that early exchange, then Olly Miles made it 3-0 in the 15^th minute. Ilford staged a comebak of sorts as they were twice able to cut into Enfield’s lead, with Michael Ogboin notching his first via a penalty in the 42^nd minute, then adding another four minutes later. However Enfield went on to score again through Dwadee James to secure the victory. Woodford Town followed their first midweek point in midweek with their first all-three, as goals from Jaydon Charles, Abdus Salami and Chaynie Burgin helped them overcome White Ensign 3-2. Carl Conway and Ollie Bell scored the White Ensign goals, who drop down to 19^th. The Woods started the day in 19^th but having won their first game of thee season now move up to 17^th and have something to now build on.