Barkingside 2-3 Great Wakering Rovers

Ryman North

 

A DRAMATIC late winner from Tom Strickland gave Great Wakering Rovers the win at Barkingside, after it appeared they had thrown it away in the final 10 minutes.

A Strickland strike and a Lewis Sparrow penalty had put Rovers in charge but two goals in the final 10 minutes looked to have salvaged a point. That was until Strickland popped up to send Rovers home happy.

It was the visitors that started the better, with Trenkel involved in much of the play, but the first chance of the match fell to the home team.

Some neat play around the edge of the box saw the played played inside Max Kent to Dan Jones. The striker took a touch but was denied by the onrushing Adam Seal, who made a brilliant save with his legs.

Rovers responded – with Trenkel and John Bradley creating half chances but Rovers missed a golden chance to take the lead with 10 minutes on the clock. The speedy Tony Jacobs was played through but, one-on-one, could only scuff his effort into Tim Pitman’s arms.

But Jacobs atoned for his miss by playing a key role in the move that saw Rovers take the lead.

George Artemi broke forward but the ball was partially cleared to Jay Nash. The forward took a touch and slipped in Jacobs who shot underneath Pitman. The ball looked as though it may have been going wide but the unmarked Tom Strickland was on hand to tap home and put Trenkel’s men ahead.

Barkingside pressed for an equaliser, with Matt Gulfer forcing Seal into action after he had palmed away an earlier header but moments later Nash fired narrowly wide as Rovers looked to double their advantage.

The pace of Jacobs and Strickland was causing Barkingside all sorts of problems and the keeper rushed out to deny the former as he burst through.

Trenkel’s men started the second half in similar fashion – a deep free-kick from Kent saw Lewis Sparrow and Pitman go for the same ball – with Sparrow’s flicked header dropping inches wide.

Strickland shot over, via the gloves of Pitman and then Artemi cleared the crossbar after a deft knock-down from Trenkel.

Barkingside’s best chance came when Kelvin Poku headed down into the ground from a corner, but the ball bounced up and hit the crossbar before being cleared.

And that proved costly when Rovers went up the pitch to double this lead. Nash was played in by Trenkel and, having been forced wide, he went down under Pitman’s challenge. The referee was unmoved but then Trenkel was brought down on the follow up by Cory Ellis, and the spot-kick was given.

Lewis Sparrow tucked it home and gave Rovers the two-goal advantage they deserved.

Jacobs had a chance to make it 3-0 but Pitman blocked superbly and the hosts halved the advantage with 10 minutes to go.

A ball was knocked into the box and, after several ricochets, it fell to Jones who made no mistake from close range.

Trenkel and Strickland had chances to make the game safe but failed to do so and with three minutes left it was 2-2.

Poku was played in and he bent a right-footed shot inside the far post with Seal helpess but that wasn’t the end of the scoring.

With seconds to go Billy Radley sent in a tremendous cross which was missed by Trenkel but not at the far post by Strickland. He scored and got Rovers out of jail.

Great Wakering Rovers: Seal, Radley, Kent, Artemi, Sparrow, Hepburn, Jacobs, Bradley, Trenkel, Nash, Strickland

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