Isthmian North
Brentwood Town 1 Hashtag United 3
JOHN CHUBB at the Brentwood Centre Arena
Brentwood Town are still without a win so far in the 2022/23 campaign, as they were defeated 3-1 at home by Hashtag United on Bank Holiday Monday.
The first half-hour of the match proved fairly uneventful, the only real chance coming for Hashtag on 17 minutes when Max Cornhill headed over the bar.
Then in the 40th minute, the experienced Greg Halford fired a free kick just wide after a foul on the edge of the penalty area.
But Brentwood won a penalty two minutes afterwards, which captain Tom Richardson fired past Hashtag goalkeeper Anthony Page to make it 1-0 to the hosts.
Just after the restart Emanuel Okunja fired wide. Then Hashtag won a penalty when Pedro Carvalho was fouled just inside the box, but Blues keeper Harry Girling made a good stop to ensure his side stayed in the lead.
But the visitors levelled the scores in the 53rd minute, captain Lewis Watson firing the ball into the top right-hand corner of Girling’s net to make it 1-1.
Just before the hour mark Matt Price came very close to putting Brentwood in front, using his pace to beat Billy Willis and fire a shot on target, but Page made a superb stop with his leg to keep the ball out.
Price had another chance on 63 minutes, when Hashtag had a penalty appeal turned down and the summer signing from Canvey Island caught them on the break, then the follow-up effort from Richardson went agonisingly wide to Page’s left.
But three minutes later United went in front, when Okunja crossed for Carvalho to tap the ball in and put them in the lead.
With 16 minutes remaining Toby Aromolaran had a good chance to increase the visitors’ lead even further, but despite having acres of space he fired his shot wide.
In the 83rd minute Brentwood came very close to an equaliser, when a cross was headed towards goal, but it bounced off the crossbar and the rebound was cleared.
Then Matthew Wooldridge put the result beyond doubt, scoring in the 90th minute to give Hashtag what was ultimately a comfortable win which put them in 10th place, whilst Brentwood were left languishing in the bottom four of the table.
Blues manager Rod Stringer was left to ponder on his side’s disappointing start to their campaign, and to think about making changes to improve things for a side who came agonisingly close to promotion last season.
Brentwood Town (Manager: Rod Stringer) – Harry Girling, Joe Heath (Chris Gregan 69), Andy Freeman, Jack Humphrey, Matt Cripps, Kane Phillip (Wyan Reid 52), Callum Leahy, Jack Dickinson, Tom Richardson ©, David Knight (Jai Reason 78), Matt Price.
Hashtag United (Manager: Jay Devereux) – Anthony Page, Matthew Wooldridge, Billy Willis, Thomas Anderson, Max Cornhill, Lewis Watson, Toby Aromolaran, Pedro Carvalho, Emanuel Okunja (Joni Vukaj 81), Alex Teniola (Afolabi Mubarak Soyemi-Ololade 90), Greg Halford.
Attendance: 281
Here is my post-match chat with Brentwood manager Rod Stringer:
