Thursday 7th February 2008 – Capital League
HORNCHURCH 3 HARLOW 1
HFC – Grant Lee – Andy Tomlinson – Harry Wheeler – Spencer Harrison – Steve Green – Tony Fraser – Michael Ramkin © - Martin Carthy – Perry Burns – Ross Wall – Harry Elmes
Subs – Bradley Thompson for Tomlinson at half time – Jack Joyce for Wheeler 75 – Asa Pamplin

HT – Alex O’Reilly – Clark Akers ** – Mark Taylor ** – Danny Chapman – Lewis Baker – Jordan Fowler ** – Dave Lee ** – Anthony Charlton – James Bunn ** – Dean Williams ** – Chris Smith
Subs – Leon Lalite ** for Lee at half time – Michael Green for Fowler at half time – Joe Lustig for Bunn 63 – Kevin Warren – Ryan Kirby **


The players marked with ** were in the Harlow squad which played at the Bridge in the Isthmian League match

Scorers – Ross Wall 5 (H) – Anthony Charlton 11 (HT) – Ross Wall 36 (H) – Ross Wall 67 (H)
Officials – G Monk with C Manley and J Roffey
Duration – 45.03 + 45.00
Bookings – none
Weather – 11 degrees, cloudy, wind speed 5 mph


HORNCHURCH 3 HARLOW 1
The Harlow squad contained eight of the players who were in the first team squad at the Bridge only a few weeks ago, and gave Asa’s Aces their hardest game of the season. The Aces kicked towards the windmill end of the ground and took the lead after five minutes, the build up coming from Tomlinson and Carthy, with ROSS WALL cutting in from the left and hammering the ball home from a narrow angle. It could easily have been two when Carthy sent Harry Elmes away, and Harry crashed his shot inches wide of the goal.

Burns was pulled down when going for goal, the Harlow player escaping a red card, and Harlow levelled on eleven minutes, ANTHONY CHARLTON finding space for himself on the left, and his hard cross cum shot deflected off of Harry Wheeler and into the net.

With David Lee inspiring the visitors, and with Bunn and Williams a constant threat, for a time the Urchins one hundred percent record looked in danger, but they could have regained the lead when Ross Wall again cut in from the left, his hard shot being brilliantly saved by O’Reilly, who is the Dagenham and Redbridge loanee to Harlow and another first team player, and it was O’Reilly who reacted quickly to clutch Wall’s follow up shot. A Tomlinson free kick found Ramkin, and his hard drive brought yet another excellent save from O’Reilly, but the second goal followed when ROSS WALL took a cross from the left and neatly right footed the ball home. Shortly before half time, it was Grant Lee’s turn to make a spectacular diving save, from Chris Smith.

With hot and cold teas and soup on sale in the shop, not surprisingly it was packed solid, but it was soon time to get back outside, but not before everything edible had been sold out.

The second half saw Leon Lalite coming on to boost the visitors attack, but the Aces now forced the pace and looked the more likely to score. The third goal came when Harry Elmes made the running on the left, turned the ball back to Tony Fraser, whose low cross found ROSS WALL, surrounded by three defenders. Ross took the ball on his right foot, juggled his way through and hammered home a left footed shot for one of the best goals seen at the Bridge this season. Harlow came back strongly, Chris Smith making ground and hammering in a shot from close range but Grant Lee made a remarkable save. Ross Wall nearly added his fourth goal when he soloed his way through and hit his shot into the side netting.

In addition to the three points, there was even more good news, as the injury to Shane Oakley does not now appear to be as bad as it was first thought, and he may only be out for a month, still too long, but better than being out for the rest of the season.