Conf South round up 28th Feb ’15

Matt Lee Football Article

Saturday 28th Feb 2015

This week nine games took place in the Vanarama Conference South including a seven goal thriller as Bishops Stortford hosted Weston Super Mare and a 2-2 draw between Ebbsfleet and Hemel Hempstead.

The league leaders Boreham Wood looked to earn three more points on their charge for the title but it was not to be as they lost to Havant & Waterlooville. Boreham looked to be on their way to a much-needed three points when Lee Angol’s strike in the first minute put the home side 1-0 up. Havant equalised through Scott Donnelly; Josh Hill tripped Havant’s Ben Swallow in the area only for Donnelly to expertly tuck home his penalty.

Havant almost took the lead as Boreham’s second half substitute Ben Nunn was dismissed in the 55th minute, giving away another penalty, only for Donnelly’s fierce strike to hit the post. However, with seconds to go in added time, Bradley Bubb with the ball inside the area sent a stunning pass through to meet JJ Hooper’s run and put the visitors 2-1 up against the league leaders.

Another game this weekend was at Melbourne Park where the hosts – Chelmsford City FC – were looking to end their unbeaten run of three games against high flying Bromley FC. In a slow starting game it only really picked up speed in the second half when Bromley top-goal scorer Moses Ademola put the visitors 1-0 up against the run of play. A passing movement which began with the goal scorer setting Ugo Udoji off down the wing for the midfielder to cross in and Ademola head home.

City’s skipper Mark Hughes was then shown two yellow cards in a matter of minutes shortly after. The first was avoidable as the captain was booked for dissent but the second was for what looked like a fair tackle on Jack Holland but referee Alan Young disagreed.

However with only 8 minutes remaining City levelled, a fast ball was delivered into the box and City’s Michael Toner scored his first Clarets goal top put the sides level. The Clarets couldn’t hold on for a vital point as another late goal gave Bromley the win; Ademola scored his 12th of the season.

There was a flurry of cards in the remaining few minutes. The Claret’s Harry Hickford was sent off late on for a two-footed challenge on Ugo Udoji which also saw their Chief Mark Hawkesas sent off as the two camps squared up to each other.

There were only two draws on Saturday: Ebbsfleet were held 2-2 at home to visiting Hemel Hempstead whilst Basingstoke drew to Concord Rangers. In the Ebbsfleet game a stunning Jordan Parkes freekick earned Hemel a share of the points in front of Ebbsfleet’s biggest home crowd of the season. Over at Basingstoke however Manny Williams’ missed penalty meant they failed to earn points over ten-man Concord, and drop out of the play-off places.

Justin Bennett aided Gosport Borough’s fight for play-offs as his 32nd goal of the season gave Gosport the win after coming from behind. Dan Bennett put lowly Farnborough ahead after thirty minutes after striking past an onrushing Nathan Ashmore. Gosport levelled as Dan Wooden – scoring his fifth goal in four games – side footed his side level. Justin Bennett however stole the headlines as he fired a shot, on the turn, past visiting keeper Marek Rodak.

A seven goal thriller occurred at Bishops Stortford, who hosted Weston-Super-Mare. Weston’s Jamie Lucas hit a hattrick inside eleven minutes, either side of half time. The visitors were 4-1 up after 54 minutes however a late rally from Blues’ Ashley Miller and Mikel Suarez saw them narrowly lose 4-3.

Sutton’s Ricky Wellard scored the only goal of the game as visiting Sutton beat Staines Town. Wellard was subbed on midway through the second half but during his time on the pitch he scored a tremendous goal before being subbed back off through injury.

Whitehawk and Wealdstone also earned three away points as they beat Maidenhead and St Albans respectively. Wealdstone’s win was guaranteed courtesy of a brace by Jefferson Lewis and a sole goal by Scott Davies. Whitehawks’ win was earned by two goals in the first half: a Scott Neilson tap-in and Jake Robinson who swept home from a corner.

Ultimately there were not many surprise endings this weekend other than Havant’s late winner at Boreham. Let’s hope next week it will be more exciting.

Basingstoke Town (0) 0-0 (0) Concord Rangers 486

Bath City P-P Hayes & Yeading United

Bishop’s Stortford (1) 3-4 (2) Weston-super-Mare 315

Boreham Wood (1) 1-2 (1) Havant & Waterlooville 251

Chelmsford City (0) 1-2 (0) Bromley 749

Ebbsfleet United (2) 2-2 (1) Hemel Hempstead Town 1,636

Gosport Borough (1) 2-1 (1) Farnborough 541

Maidenhead United (0) 0-2 (2) Whitehawk 310

St Albans City (0) 1-3 (1) Wealdstone 877

Staines Town (0) 0-1 (0) Sutton United 325

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