Spirited Saffron Walden display in draw

 

Fahad Nazor opened the scoring for Saffron Walden on 7 minutes.

Saffron Walden Town put in a determined performance on Tuesday evening (30^th September) in a 2-2 draw at home to second-placed Little Oakley.

Fahad Nazor swept home in the opening exchanges for his first goal for the club, which was cancelled out late in the first half by Rory Harman. Luke Hipkin then came off the bench to score with virtually his first touch, before Kaleel Green, so often Walden’s saviour, secured a point for The Bloods from the penalty spot in front of a crowd of 149.

Three days before, Saffron Walden secured their best result of the season so far with a late 4-3 comeback victory away to White Ensign, with Jordan Gent heading in a dramatic stoppage-time winner, and Walden seemed to carry the momentum from Saturday’s game into the match with The Acorns. With seven minutes on the clock, Sam Deering found a good position on the corner of the visitors’ penalty area and cut the ball back for midfielder Nazor to find the net with a low shot and register his first goal for the club.

Little Oakley, the division’s top scorers, demonstrated their attacking impetus as the first half wore on, and were unlucky not to draw level sooner than they did. Firstly, Jordi Papple saw a shot blocked well on the line by Ryan Auger, before the visitors had the ball in the back of the Bloods net from a corner on 25 minutes, but was ruled out by the referee for an infringement.

But it was from a set piece that Oakley eventually found a leveller, a simple corner was not dealt with by the Walden defence and defender Rory Harman planted a header into the net past the returning goalkeeper George Coton.

The second half saw renewed pressure from the visitors, though the hosts had chances of their own. On the hour mark, The Acorns made a switch which saw Hipkin replace Kieran Williams, and straight away the substitute made an impact as Little Oakley launched a counter-attack, Bobby Rea was released down the left-hand side, and the ball played to the back post was touched home by Hipkin, delighting the coaching staff and the travelling supporters with his impact.

However, with 20 minutes to play, Walden won a penalty when a Little Oakley defender was adjudged to have handled a cross into the box. Green stepped up to fire home his 8^th goal of the season in all competitions, despite the best efforts of one-time Bloods goalkeeper James Askew, which set up a grandstand finish at Catons Lane in a highly competitive match.

No winner was found by either side, though, and they were forced to share a point. Given the league standings of the two teams, Walden would surely be happier with the point gained.

“It was a good battle”, said Nazor, Saffron Walden’s number 4, after the match. “The first half was even, we showed good character to come back after they went ahead and I think that a draw is a fair result.

“Looking ahead to Saturday, we need to show the same energy as we did today and hopefully another three points in the bag.”

Saffron Walden now look ahead to that match on Saturday as they welcome Sporting Bengal United to Catons Lane in the Essex Senior League, while Little Oakley travel to Roding Lane to face Buckhurst Hill.

 

Saffron Walden Town: Coton, Clark, Auger (Barden, 79’), Nazor, Gent, Skelton (C), Allen (Manyewe, 72’), Deering, Green, Cobblah (Owusu, 83’), Elegushi. Subs not used: Rulten.

Goals: Nazor, Green.

 

Little Oakley: Askew, Harman, McFaull (Ladbrook, 71’), Badham, Wood (C), Papple, Ketley-Gregan, Williams (Hipkin, 60’), Harding, Rea, Davis. Subs not used: Lambert, Elvestad, Perry.

Goals: Harman, Hipkin. Bookings: McFaull.