A stoppage time winner by Kingsley Aikhionbare meant we took all three points from Monday night’s local derby writes James Barrett
Team news: Greg Andrews, Ricky Korboa and Bentley Graham were all given starts following Saturday’s victory in Hastings, while Matt Males, Jake Downs and Liam Sallis were named among the substitutes. Ex-Robins Brendan Murphy-McVey and Sol Pinnock lined up for the visitors.
We created two good chances on four minutes as Korboa sprung Dan Summers free of the United defence. He eventually cut inside from the left but his angled drive went just wide via a small deflection. Alex Penfold met the corner but he put a free header wide of the mark.
The visitors’ first glimpse of our goal came on 10 minutes as Pinnock also met a corner delivery but his glancing header flashed wide of the far post.
Graham, who recently returned from suspension, almost made his mark on the quarter hour; he chested a defensive header down on halfway, strode forward and rode two tackles but eventually skewed a shot over from 18 yards.
Matt Willard was called into action on 17 minutes as Pinnock fizzed a 25 yard free in on target, but our man got down well to parry it around the near post.
We broke from the resulting corner and a through ball by Korboa saw United keeper Adam Faith and defender Sol Patterson-Bohner get in each other’s way, but Graham couldn’t force the loose ball through the forest of legs and into the empty net.
Murphy-McVey and Penfold both had efforts wide as the game pulsated back and forth but our defence were keeping the Tooting forwards quiet.
Korboa neatly put Graham into the United box on 22 minutes and his pull back found Andrews but the forward couldn’t work the space for a shot. The ball went back out to Korboa who then teed up Lee Hall from 20 yards but his shot went into the midriff of Faith.
The midfielder had another sighter from distance on the half hour but this time Faith did well to clutch onto it while, at the other end, Billy Marshall took aim from a dangerous position but curled the ball past the far top corner.
For all our possession and probing we still hadn’t made the breakthrough however, with final through balls either too wayward or positive runs being curtailed by a linesman’s flag.
That said, we had a great chance to go into the break one-up on 40 minutes as Tommy Bradford headed an Andrews free kick high up in the United box. Faith, under pressure from Penfold and Korboa, couldn’t gather it and Graham slammed the loose ball on target from 12 yards but Simeone blocked it off the line.
HALF-TIME: 0 – 0
The second-half began at a fair pace but the visitors enjoyed their best spell of the match.
Willard was fortunate a decision to leave his box on 52 minutes didn’t turn sour. A long ball set Jamie Byatt between Adriano Moraes and Penfold but, as Willard entered the fray and the ball bobbled loose, the referee blew for a push by the striker.
Bobby Price bravely blocked a Pinnock volley away from danger three minutes later before Byatt then crashed a swerving shot from 18 yards against our crossbar.
Yet we rediscovered our composure, brought on new boy Reece Placid for Andrews and saw Korboa have an effort from 12 yards blocked by a desperate lunge before it was our turn to see woodwork shaking.
Hall dinked a ball over the top to get Summers in one-on-one with Faith. Our man beat the keeper with a firm drive but the ball cannoned back off the bar, only for Bradford to frustratingly volley the rebound narrowly over from a more central position.
While we were still reeling from the shock of not taking the lead, United went down the other end with Pinnock finally delivered across our six-yard box but Paris Hamilton-Downes deftly nipped in to deny Mofoko a potential tap-in.
Aikhionbare was introduced with 15 minutes to go and Moraes stretched to beat Byatt to a flicked on long throw in our six-yard area shortly afterwards.
New boy Placid delivered a floating cross on 88 minutes which Aikhionbare collected outside the United box. He played a neat one-two with Bradford to get in on goal but he scuffed his first-time effort straight at Faith.
The visitors were lucky not to go down to ten men as the game entered added time. Willard had already clutched a ball at his near post when Slow tried to seemingly kick and bundle our keeper ‘out for a corner’. This set off a melee of bodies, including Faith who for some reason ran the entire length of the pitch to get involved, before the referee booked both Slow and Willard, who was presumably cautioned for pushing the protagonist away.
The magic moment was upon us however; Placid pick the ball up deep on our right and went past two players before passing inside to Graham. He took the ball over halfway before putting Aikhionbare one-on-one with Patterson-Bohner. Our man cut inside the defender and, from 18 yards, his firm strike seemingly went through Faith on its way to bulging the net.