Report

DEFENDERS TAKE THE HONOURS AGAINST HARINGEY
By Tony Middleton

Two goals from Elliot Styles, and one from Nathan Cooper

Tuesday 16-August-2016
HORNCHURCH 3 HARINGEY BOROUGH 2

HFC – Mott, Chouman, Woodward (Thompson 87), Styles ©, Cooper, Da Cruz, Lee, Collis, Freeman (Knight HT), Purcell (McKenzie 88), Bentley
Subs – Coley, Hursit

HB – Palmer, Fenton, Adams (Scott 86), Clarke, O’Cearull, Dedman, Aristidou, Kay (Kamara HT), Benjamin, Willer, McDonald (Moorse-McDougall 39)
Subs – Byfield, Asamoah

Officials – George Warren with Jair Alzate Guzman and Caspar Vick

Scorers – Styles 55 (H) – Benjamin 68 (HBC), Benjamin 76 (HBC), Cooper 78 (H), Styles 84 (H)
Attendance 134
Bookings – Styles 66 (H) – Chouman 90+4 (H)
Duration 47.00 + 49.00

HORNCHURCH 3 HARINGEY BOROUGH 2

Manager Jim McFarlane was forced to make changes after James Morrish was injured on Saturday, and Nicky Symons was not available. The good news was that Elliot Styles had recovered from his injury on Saturday.

JJ Da Cruz came into the starting line up, along with Dave Collis.

The match started slowly, with Hornchurch unable to penetrate the visiting defence. There were few scoring opportunities in the first half, although Elliot Styles went close with a header from a long Jed Chouman centre.

A Jed Chouman free kick was headed back by Dave Collis to George Purcell, but his first time volley was wide of the goal.

Ricky Freeman fired a shot over the bar, and Purcell had another attempt, which again went wide.

Sam Mott was not troubled by the Haringey forwards in the first half, and did not have a shot to save, the only brief moment of danger coming from a corner, which was comfortably dealt with by Nathan Cooper.

Haringey also lost Anthony McDonald when he limped off, to be replaced by Greg Moorse-McDougall.

The closest Hornchurch came to scoring was in the last few seconds of the first period when a header from Kenzer Lee was cleared off the line.

There was a lot more action in the second half, with Hornchurch kicking towards the clubhouse end of the ground.

David Knight replaced Freeman and gave the Haringey defence some worrying moments, but the opening goal came when a George Woodward corner was headed back by Lee to Elliot Styles, who made no mistake from close range.

Haringey for the first time were forced to come forward, and Dean Fenton gave the home defence a few worrying moments, whilst a Dan Aristidou free kick was headed away by Cooper.

Knight and Purcell combined well to set up Alex Bentley, who ran forward past two defenders but put his shot a fraction to high.

Purcell then cut in from the left, running on to a Knight pass, but his shot went across the face of the goal and out of play.

A Collis free kick was touched back to Bentley, but his shot was wide of the post, and then Haringey broke quickly to the other end, after Purcell had been dispossessed and Chris Benjamin finished off a cross, which had eluded Mott, to level the score.

And it was Chris Benjamin again who took full advantage of another defensive lapse to place the ball firmly into the net from a left wing cross.

Haringey only held their lead for two minutes, when a high centre from Alex Bentley found Nathan Cooper, and although keeper Harry Palmer saved Cooper’s header, Cooper was quick to follow up and bring the score back level.

Elliot Styles has played 460 times for Hornchurch, but has never scored more than one goal in any match – until tonight, when he powered a header into the net from a corner to put Hornchurch back in front.

Abs Thompson replaced Woodward and immediately caused consternation on the right flank with a penetrating run, and Leon McKenzie then replaced Purcell.

Hornchurch had another scoring chance in stoppage time when Cooper ran powerfully out of defence, and his shot was deflected for a corner.

Jed Chouman was booked in the final few seconds, as Haringey came forward in a last attempt to equalise but the resulting free kick was comfortably headed to safety, to give Hornchurch their first league win of the season.

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