Match Report: Reds Ruffle Swans Feathers

Walton & Hersham 1-1 Uxbridge

Uxbridge travelled down to leafy Surrey for their final away league match of the season and produced a solid performance to claim a 1-1 draw against champions Walton & Hersham on Saturday. There were three changes from last week's trip to Taunton as Avan Jones, Frank Keita and Josh Boorn all came into the starting line up.

The Reds started on the front foot and nearly took the lead in the 3rd minute. Ciaran Martin drove forward with purpose before finding Jo Lawal who showed great footwork to beat his marker and curled a goal-bound effort that forced Barker in the Walton goal into a fingertip save over the bar. The Reds' defensive unit looked solid early on, with Marco Underwood alert in the 29th minute to produce a fine reaction save from a powerful header following a Walton free kick. With the title all wrapped up, and on a run of three successive defeats, Walton provided little in the way of threat in the first half, with Uxbridge looking comfortable - but there was controversy in the 33rd minute. A dangerous ball behind the defence from George Moore, appeared to strike the arm of Thabo Kuaho under pressure from Lawal, but the referee turned a deaf ear to the Uxbridge appeals, and Lawal could only pull his shot wide of the post. It looked as though the match would be level at the break, however the home side had other ideas when Dawid Rogalski found a rare opening in the Reds backline and he fired a low shot past Underwood to give the hosts a 1-0 lead heading into the break.

HT 0-1

Uxbridge though were not perturbed by the setback and came out for the second half with renewed energy. The pressure told just four minutes in when Troy Perez-Duah dinked a delicate ball into the path of Josh Boorn, who timed his run perfectly, beating the keeper to the ball and slotting home to level the scores and silence the home crowd. The expected response from Walton never really materialised - aside from a free kick that whistled just past the Uxbridge post on the hour mark - the better chances came Uxbridge’s way. A dangerous low cross from Avan Jones flashed across the face of goal, but substitute Ada Okorogheye was unable to make a solid connection. A better chance came with 5 minutes remaining as good pressure from Jeremiah Okine-Peters saw the home side lose possession, and a ball into the box fell perfectly to George Moore, but his shot was well blocked by Barker - and the chance had gone. Soon after Okorogheye and Toby Nnadozie combined superbly to open up the Walton defence, but again Okorogheye was unable to make a meaningful contact. With the clock hitting 90 minutes, Uxbridge were almost made to pay for the missed chances as Mekhi Savage forced Underwood into a fine low save at full stretch. It meant the Reds left the Xcel with a well-deserved point, proving they can go toe-to-toe with the best in the division.

The final home match of the season sees play off bound Poole Town visiting HOneycroft next Saturday 25 April

FT 1-1

Att: 1426

Uxbridge: Underwood, Jones (Brown), Martin, Fearn, Cuthbert, Rush, Lawal (Okorogheye), Perez-Duah (Nnadozie), Keita (Okine-Peters), Moore, Boorn (Bocarro)