AFC Hornchurch

Saturday 10-January-2015
HORNCHURCH 0 WINGATE & FINCHLEY 1

HFC

1 - Sam Mott
2 - Billy Coyne
3 - Alex Bentley
4 - Elliot Styles
5 - Billy Roast
6 - Frankie Curley
7 - Junior Luke
8 - Joey May – sub Danny Johnson 67
9 - Martin Tuohy – sub Kieran Bishop 57
10 - George Purcell
11 - Chris Bourne – sub Tobi Joseph 52
subs

12 - Dominic Smith
16 - Thomas Gogo

WF
1 - Bobby Smith
2 - Mark Goodman
3 - Ronayne Marsh-Brown
4 - Stuart Lake
5 - Bradley Hewitt
6 - James Kaloczi
7 - David Knight
8 - Tommy Tejan-Sie
9 - Rob Lane
10 - la Sogbanmu – sub Richard Graham 79
11 - Scott Shulton

subs
12 - Paul Wright
14 - Karl Oliyide
16 - Gavin Suddell
17 - Jack Read

Officials – previous matches involving Hornchurch
Thomas Hancock – on line at Bury 23/10/12 and aginst Bury on 2/5/12
Ashley List – on line at Lowestoft 2/11/13
Richard May – on line at Spalding 28/9/13

Scorer – Knight 41p

Attendance 188

Bookings
Shulton 43 (WF)
Curley 84 (H)
Kaloczi 88 (WF)
Knight 90+3 (WF)

Duraton 46.06 + 51.54
Weather – sunny, 10 degrees, wind speed up to 40 mph in first half, then dropped to less than 10 mph in second half.

Colours – H – red and white stripes / white / black
WF – all blue

HORNCHURCH 0 WINGATE & FINCHLEY 1

Hornchurch had to play in white shorts, as the navy blue of Wingate was considered to be a colour clash, although the navy blue socks were accepted as not clashing with Hornchurch’s black.

In what turned out to be an important decision, Wingate won the toss and chose to kick with the gale force wind behind them, a factor which worked in their favour as the wind dropped noticeably at the interval.

In the difficult conditions, Hornchurch had what proved to be their best opportunity of the first half when Martin Tuohy almost broke through I the first minute but went sprawling as he was about to shoot. Tuohy then directed a header over the bar from a Chris Bourne centre, whilst Junior Luke put in a high cross from the right which went into the hands of keeper Bobby Smith.

Wingate won two corners in succession although they were comfortably cleared, whilst a Hornchurch corner at the other end met a similar fate, and a shot from Junior Luke was charged down.

Scott Shulton hit a shot wide of the post, and at the other end Billy Roast headed wide from a Joey May free kick after Ronayne Marsh-Brown had brought down Junior Luke.

Hornchurch could make little headway against the wind with their high ball down the middle tactics, and it was Wingate who came closest to scoring when Tommy Tejan-Sie won a corner, only for Shulton to miskick. Elliot Styles cleared a second corner up field. Shulton was causing problems in the home defence and he was foiled by a good save by Sam Mott, whilst Alex Bentley conceded a corner when David Knight fired a shot across goal.

Four minutes from half time Elliot Styles conceded a penalty, which was hammered hard into the net by David Knight for what turned out to be the only goal of the match.

By the time the teams returned for the second half the gale had died down to a gentle breeze. An early chance fell to Junior Luke but his run ended with a corner, whilst a long throw by Billy Coyne ended safely in the hands of Bobby Smith.

Tobi Joseph came on for Chris Bourne and he caused the visitors a few worrying moments with some good runs on the right, though the closest Hornchurch came to a goal was when Frankie Curley headed over from another long Coyne throw.

Kieran Bishop replaced Tuohy, and played up front. A good run by Tobi Joseph ended in another corner, which Joey May sent over to George Purcell but his shot was wide of the goal.

Then followed the miss of the match – Stuart Lake sent the ball over to an unmarked Ola Sogbanmu, who then slotted the ball high and wide of an open goal. Sogbanmu had a chance to make amends when he charged down two attempted clearances, but then blazed his shot high over the bar.

As the match entered stoppage time, James Kaloczi was booked for bringing down Tobi Joseph as he threatened to break through, but Billy Coyne directed the resulting free kick wide of the goal.

Almost on time Hornchurch had one final chance when Junior Luke made a massive throw into the goalmouth, but Bobby Smith rose well to hold.