Burnham vs Windsor & Eton

Match Report

We made the short trip to league leaders Burnham on Saturday aiming to close the gap and put ourselves right in the mix for a title charge, with many games still to play.

We had a new addition to the starting eleven in this crunch match, welcoming new signing Morrison Hashii who will look to get many goals for us in this second half of the season.

We started brightly with Leo Decabo’s effort from outside the box being the first of the game and whistled just wide. A nice knock down from Captain Toby Bridges set up Decabo who had time and space and let fly on the half volley which looked destined for the top left corner but sailed just wide.

The home side looked lively down the left side in the opening exchanges as they tried to cause problems for our defence through the link up play between left back Soul Hale and their winger Shyon Dennis.

Aiden Payne-James was scythed down by midfielder Youssef Bouimane and somehow escaped a booking from referee Bimi Sherifi. Decabo took the free kick but the effort was blocked by the wall and the danger averted.

The first booking of the game went the way of Burnham, unsurprisingly to midfielder Bouimane (who was fortunate to not already have been booked) for a poor jump into the legs of Morrison Hashii, a terrible challenge and one the ref didn’t hesitate this time to give the yellow card to the Number 8.

The Burnham manager was shown a red by the referee for kicking the ball away after his side weren’t awarded a throw in.

Bouimane for Burnham came close to an opener after he found space and shot from 20 yards out which flew over. It is questionable whether he should have still been on the pitch though.

Bizarrely the ref gave a corner as a result, despite Finley Purcell clearly not getting a touch, nonetheless the corner routine was dealt with by Tahir Carmichael.

Tahir Carmichael picked out the darting run in behind of defender Luke Phillips who put in a great cross which Jabir Laraba couldn’t connect properly to and the danger was cleared by Burnham.

Purcell launched a great ball up field to the onrushing Thomas who combined well with Payne-James. The winger outdid the defender and put in a great cross on the byline which was unfortunately cleared on the line.

At the stroke of half-time we opened the scoring through a poachers finish from Laraba. The corner found its way to Hashii at the back post whose half volley was blocked on the line, Laraba was the first to react and nodded home the header. 1-0! A strong finish to a tight first half.

Early in the second half, Burnham forward and captain Jordan Brown had a shot which may have been going wide but was whipped with pace and had to be blocked by Thomas to make sure of it.

A free kick in a dangerous position was awarded to the home side. Hussein Mahdi’s effort only just sailed over. Purcell untested one again.

Our front three linked up well ten minutes into the second half. A nice backheel from goalscorer Laraba to Hashii who then played it to Decabo who turned away from his man but couldn’t keep the shot down. A great move from the frontmen

It was an unlucky own goal that saw Burnham get back into the game. A low drilled ball was played across the six-yard box and Carmichael stuck out a boot which diverted it into the bottom corner, post and in. Very undeserved.

Later on, we had a free kick whipped in dangerously and caused the keeper problems, with the ball only being cleared as far as Bridges who goes for the scissor kick which was only just wide.

The game ended in a 1-1 draw on the road, a hard-fought game and unlucky to come away with only a point.

– Samuel Scrace