Bloods drop points after Bengals heroic comeback

Saffron Walden Town FC 4 – Sporting Bengal United 4 Essex Senior League – 18th August 2018

In an action packed match on Saturday against Sport Bengal United, the Bloods had to settle with a point against Sporting Bengal United in the Essex Senior League. The match had it all including a hat trick and a red card. With five regular players missing, manager Stuart Wardley partnered Jamie RILEY in the back four.

The visitors started the match well and showed good movement and passing, as the Bloods waiting for an opportunity to find their rhythm. It was Walden who opened the scoring with a penalty scored by the inform Charlie Portway.

This gave the Bloods confidence to push forward and five minutes later were rewarded with another goal. Tom Lakin ran onto a through ball and delivered a great cross, which Portway smashed into the top corner leaving the goalkeeper no chance.

It was plain sailing for the Bloods, as they continued to dominate the match, and on the 28th minute scored a third goal. This time the goal was scored by Lewis Francis who guided the ball passed the keeper, thanks to Charlie Portway’s cross. Portway did very well to keep the ball in play and found Francis running into the area.

The Bloods were frustrating Bengal, and their captain was sent off after a late lunging tackle on Dan Trendall as he was running with the ball up the wing.

With five minutes remaining of the first half, Sporting Bengal’s Toney Cookey scored with a looping header over O’Sullivan which dipped under the cross bar

Sporting Bengal came out in the second half determined to get back into the match, and were rewarded by a goal within minutes. Zakariya Haque managed to get between Wardley and Riley and tapped the ball under O’Sullivan to make it 3-2.

This slightly rattled the Bloods, however they continued to push on to hopefully widen the margin. Hard work paid off just after the hour mark, as Julian Simon-Parson worked very hard to keep the ball in play, and passed the ball to Francis. Francis delivered the ball to Portway; who’s first shoot was brilliantly tipped onto the crossbar by Cem Temur, however Portway made no mistake with the rebound and put it into the back of the net for his second hat trick in a row.

With 10 minutes remaining Bengal scored again, after some great individual skill by Ashaan Siddik which left fans feeling nervous for the remainder of the match.

Five minutes later, disaster stuck for the Bloods, when Sporting Bengal were awarded a free kick 10 yard away from the wing. Steven Carvell floated the ball into the back post, which sailed straight into the top corner ending the match in a 4-4 draw.

The Bloods are now 7th in the Essex Senior League and are still unbeaten this season.

Fans MOTM went to Lewis Francis

Walden look to bounce back with a win in the FA Cup against Hoddesdon Town which will be at Catons Lane on the 25th August. Kick off at 3pm