Goals galore!

The Preliminary Round of the FA Trophy occupied eight of our Pitching In Isthmian South Central sides, so we’ll start by looking at the League encounters.

Horndean had a fabulous start to life as a South Central club, a four-nil win over Binfield perhaps making up for a Cup departure earlier in the month. The Deans welcomed Hanworth Villa, and they ensured top spot by scoring a goal in each half, Waledin Ahmad on half an hour and Dan Sibley in the closing stages delivering victory. 

Metropolitan Police hit Moneyfields for four on opening day, playing some fine football in victory, but they lost twice against opponents Sutton Common Rovers last season, and the visitors made that three in a row despite falling behind. Wilson Bernal scored for the boys in blue on seventeen minutes, only for Adam Aziz to level nine minutes before the break- but by then the hosts were down to ten men, Benjamin Mendoza sent off. The second half saw the visitors add two more, Nahum Melvin-Lambert and Tyrese Osbourne ensuring victory. 

Hartley Wintney travelled to take on one of our promotion favourites, Leatherhead, and pulled off something of a shock by charging into a three-nil lead. George Walace, Ellis Orsborn and Aderi Dede gave them that advantage, and although the Tanners finally got going after the break, Niran Butler and Seb Karczewski pulling two goals back, the Row held on for three valuable points- and are fourth. 

Harrow Borough (pictured, with some of their supporters) were on the road- and then the plane- travelling to Guernsey and looking for a quick response to their midweek Cup defeat. This was their first match against a side not named Ashford, after an opening day win over Town and two cup ties against United, and this seemed to be the first time the sides had ever met- and it’s a day their fans will remember as their side scored three second half goals to win three-nil and go third. Carl Stewart opened the scoring on forty seven minutes, Jordan Hamilton-Olise quickly added a second, and the match was as good as over when Jethro Odumosu made it three on sixty four minutes. Five hundred and sixty nine watched on. 

Raynes Park Vale welcomed Badshot Lea to their corner of South West London. Vale hadn’t had the best of luck against the Baggies in recent years. The Baggies won both encounters last season and both of their meetings in 22-23, as well as taking four points from six during 21-22, too- so we suspected that Vale would be rather determined to bring that poor run to an end- and they did exactly that, in style. It looked like more of the same when Lamin Ceesay put the visitors ahead on twenty seven minutes, but that just spurred Vale on, and they were ahead by the break, Olly Sotoyinbo and Jake Gallagher turning the match around. In the second half Jermaine Green and Jordan Gallagher (2) added three more, ensuring a five-one win for Vale, who are fifth. 

Uxbridge and Westfield were hoping for a first League win of the campaign as the two sides met at Honeycroft. 

The sides had a history of being rather evenly matched- five of their previous nine meetings had ended in draws- and this one was both close and exciting, indeed, it was a seven goal thriller! Five of those goals arrived before the break. Lui Edwards put Field ahead on twenty six minutes before the hosts staged a comeback, Greg Hackett and Wilson Chingoka quickly putting them ahead. Four minutes before the break Richard Afrane-Kesey pulled Westfield level, and three minutes later he made it three-two to the visitors, but it looked like Chingoka had earned the hosts a point with an equaliser on seventy seven minutes. With two minutes to go, however, Lucas Sinclair got a winner for Westfield, who go sixth. 

FA Trophy

We had an all-South Central tie between Ashford Town and Ascot United. The Tangerines went ahead after only two minutes, Brad Sweeney with the opener, but the Yellas levelled just after the hour through Taylor Morgan and went on to win a shoot out four-three. 

Another South Central ‘derby’ saw Hayes and Yeading United make the trip to Portsmouth to take on Moneyfields, and United came out on top despite finishing with ten men. Jonathan Hippolyte opened the scoring a minute after the break, Adrian Clifton made it two from the spot, and although the last scorer was sent off three minutes later it made no difference to the outcome. 

South Central Farnham Town did the unthinkable last weekend- they lost- but they didn’t repeat that against Erith Town, coasting to victory. Adam Liddle and Darryl Sanders made it two-nil by the half an hour mark, and just after the break Owen Dean added a third, and they held on to that comfortably. 

We had another South Central/South East tie as Lancing welcomed Southall. The Lancers poor start to the season continued,  as the only goal of the match- on seven minutes- went to The All, Brendan Matthew keeping his nerve from the spot.

Littlehampton Town v Rayners Lane was postponed, rescheduled for Tuesday.

One more South Central v South East tie saw South Park Reigate welcome Steyning Town Community. Neither side could score, so off went to penalties, Town triumphing four-two.