Match Report: Geordies hand Reds more late pain

Hanwell Town 1-1 Uxbridge

The movie Scrooged is usually the Bill Murray film of choice at this time of year; however, Uxbridge FC must feel like they are trapped in another of his movies this season—namely Groundhog Day—as once again a late, late goal pegged the Reds back. Following on from Welling, Tiverton, Havant, Yate, Walton, and Bracknell so far this season, Hanwell became the latest side to deny the Reds at the death.

Uxbridge started brightly, with Frank Keita nearly breaking through in the 5th minute, only to drag his effort wide. The pressure stayed on as, shortly after, Ada Okorogheye showed great strength to hold off the defence and lay the ball back for Harry Rush, whose fizzing shot from the edge of the area narrowly cleared the crossbar. The home side struggled to break down the Reds' defence; however, they were gifted a lifeline in the 18th minute when Kai Hobbs made a high challenge on Naheer Nawaf in the box. The referee pointed to the spot, but Dan Carr saw his low effort to the right saved superbly by Rhys Forster.

This spurred on the visitors, and on 35 minutes they could easily have led as a dangerous cross from Frank Keita evaded George Moore but found Okorogheye sliding in at the back post, only for his shot to cannon off the woodwork from a tight angle. Okorogheye was again proving a real handful and, on 40 minutes, broke into the box again, but Beasant was down quickly to save from a tight angle, leaving things all square at the break.

HT 0-0

The second half began with Uxbridge still on the front foot. Moore and Massimo Giamattei both saw chances go begging, with Moore pulling a shot agonisingly wide in the 47th minute after good work to beat three Hanwell defenders. The deadlock was finally broken in the 61st minute. Following a corner, the ball was recycled back into the danger zone and fell to Keita, who showed clinical composure to fire home, giving Uxbridge a well-deserved 1-0 lead.

As the clock ticked down, the Reds looked solid. Forster remained alert, making a smart save in the 82nd minute to keep the lead intact, while improvising earlier in the half to snuff out a dangerous attack with a fine tackle on Eddie Cooper as he looked to get onto a long ball which evaded the Uxbridge defence.

The Reds were then left to see the game out; however, in the seventh additional minute of the five to be played, Uxbridge were unable to keep the ball in the corner. Hanwell broke away and a headed clearance by Kyle Bailey struck a defender and rebounded onto his hand. While the contact appeared to be on the very edge of the box, the referee ruled it was inside and awarded a penalty to the home side. Mo Battamer stepped up and coolly sent Forster the wrong way to make it 1-1 with the final kick of the game, leaving the Reds once again wondering how they let points slip through their fingers. Here’s hoping their fortunes change with the New Year.

FT 1-1

Att 634

Uxbridge: Forster, Hobbs, Boccaro, Fearn, Stepney, Bailey, Giamattei (Boorn), Rush, Okorogheye (Lawal), Moore, Keita