Dockers delight!

It was a Velocity Cup Second and Third Round night for four of our Pitching In Isthmian North sides.

In the Second Round two North Division sides who had been suffering contrasting fortunes of late met at Coles Park, as Haringey Borough, second from bottom, hoped for a respite from their recent woes as they welcomed leaders Tilbury. It’s difficult to know what to say about Borough, as their form is…well, to call it unpredictable really wouldn’t do it justice…and this match summed that up perfectly, as they had a four-nil lead with twenty minutes to go and yet somehow ended up defeated. It is as if boss Tom Loizou has been driving up and down White Hart Lane running down every black cat he sees. 

Borough went ahead on thirty four minutes through George Aresti, and just before the break Matthew Young made it two. So far, so good, and it was to get even better, as Derek Asamoah got the third just before the hour, and six minutes later Young added a fourth. Game, set and…as it turned out, the match was far from over.

On seventy minutes Lindell Stewart got a goal back for the Dockers, his first for the club, but as we reached the eighty seventh minute it was no more than a consolation. And then, Kieran Jones got another for the visitors, a second consolation…or at least that was how it looked until the same player added another sixty seconds later. Suddenly what had looked to be a comfortable Borough win saw them hanging on, and four minutes into added time they found that beyond them, as Jack Hayes somehow got an equaliser. There was still time for them to take two more blows. First, seven minutes into added time, Jorge Djassi-Sambu was dismissed, and then off we went to a shootout- and we suspect the home faithful watched from between their fingers, trying to block out the inevitable as Tilbury triumphed five-three. 

Onto Round Three, Premier Division Hashtag United hosted Grays Athletic at Parkside, and delivered something of a second half demolition job. The Tags opened the scoring on four minutes through Camilo Restrepo, and added another on twenty six minutes, Jermaine Anderson giving them a two-nil lead at the break. Athletic were quickly on the scoresheet in the second half, Louie Remi pulling a goal back, but that was the cue for the Tags to take control. Sakariya Hassan got his third of the season on sixty two minutes, Max Cornhill added a fourth thirteen minutes from time, and in the closing stages Darren Foxley added a fifth and Misha Djemaili a sixth to send the Tags sailing through. 

Premier Division Hendon hoped to quickly banish last week to the memory banks as they welcomed Newmarket Town. Two heavy defeats had left the Greens feeling rather blue, but they managed to inflict a rather heavy defeat of their own on the travelling Jockeys. They went ahead on eight minutes, new arrival Lonit Talla with the opening goal in his second match for the club, and Billie Busari’s third in four matches made it two-nil just after the break. A Niko Muir spot kick quickly delivered the third, and although the next spot kick was at the other end, Jacob Mingay pulling it back to three-one for Town, Muir was quickly on hand to score a fourth. Right at the end Shaun Lucien made it five, and finally that was that.