Pitching In Southern Premier League Division South 

Monday 15 November 2021

Beaconsfield Town 2 Hendon 2

 

Rams Man of the Match: Lucas Kennedy-Sinclair 

After the goal rush on Saturday there was always the possibility that the visit of Hendon on Monday evening may have an, “After the Lord Mayors show”, feel to it. So it proved, as Beaconsfield fell behind early, got their noses in front before conceding a naive equaliser then ran out of legs in the second half. In the end, holding on grimly for a point. Whilst Monday night fixtures undoubtedly offer benefits of fewer competing fixtures for potential spectators they come at the expense of recovery time for the squad.

The turn around proved too quick for Olly Sprague who has been nursing a sore knee for some time and eventually succumbed on Saturday in the win over Swindon Supermarine. His place at left back was taken by utility player, the footballing Swiss Army knife, Toby Little.

Any thought that the evening would be a continuation of Saturday’s romp was quickly dispelled by a combative, physical andey Hendon team who set about The Rams in much the same fashion that the late great Dave Piercy used to attack a bag of chips! Encouraged by a referee who seemed at times to be officiating a different sport.  

The visitors were ahead on six minutes. With the home defence appealing for an offside flag that the assistant steadfastly refused to flourish, Joe White nipped in to latch on to a speculative ball over the top to lift his effort over the advancing Ayman Azaze and into the net. 

The visitors dominated the midfield exchanges in the early going and Beaconsfield were a shadow of the confident footballing side of the weekend, troubled by the pace and movement of the visitors. The Rams stuck to their task though and Matty Harriott and Scott Donnelly steadily got to grips with matters in midfield assisted by the willing and effective running of Lucas Kennedy-Sinclair down the right and, increasingly as the half wore on, Olly McCoy, linking with Toby Little, on the opposite flank. 

A moment of brilliance from McCoy almost brought The Rams level after 27 minutes. 

A short corner was worked to Scott Donnelly who seemed to be making room for a shot or cross, from the corner of the area, b

efore a clever back heel found McCoy in space. His wicked curling effort dipped at the last minute to deceive Burbidge who was relieved to see a ball he was leaving crash down off the underside of the cross bar and away to safety.  

Two minutes later the two wide men combined for a deserved Beaconsfield equaliser, McCoy’s slide rule pass picking up the run of Kennedy-Sinclair, popping up to try his luck down the left. Lucas steadied himself and headed for the byeline before cutting back on to his right foot and firing in a fierce low shot from the angle of the six yard box which beat Fred Burbidge inside the near post. 

Moments later back on the right Lucas met another McCoy cross with a low shot which Burbidge did well to turn aside. 

The keeper was again at the centre of the action on the 38th minute rushing from his area to aim a clearance at an innocuous through ball. He misjudged the angle, scuffed his effort and slipped, presenting Nathan Minhas with the ball 35 yards from goal on the right wing. Minhas gleefully stroked home his third goal in three days and based on the run of the game at that point it seemed that The Rams could stretch away as the did on Saturday. 

Unfortunately for Beaconsfield no one told Hendon and they picked themselves up off the carpet and capitalised on some naive Rams defending, launching a counter attack from a Beaconsfield corner which was finished off by Liam Brooks who advanced into the area before burying a cross shot in the corner. 

Half Time 2-2 

The second half largely failed to live up to the promise of the first.

Beaconsfield started brightly enough and created good positions but a combination of good defending and a surprising shot shyness on behalf of The Rams meant that Burbidge was largely untroubled throughout the second period. 

It was the visitors who looked the more likely and the longer the half went on the more it became apparent that if there was to be a winner it would be them. Gary Meakin rang the changes in an effort to solidify the point and Nathan Minhas seemed to have worked himself a scoring opportunity but Sam Dreyer recovered well to make a sliding block to deny the in form striker.

At the other end Joe White, Liam Brooks and Anis Nuur went close. Nuur drawing a good low save from Ayman Azaze but The Rams defence, marshalled by Mark Nisbet, just about coped with everything that Hendon threw at them. 

In the end it was Beaconsfield who were glad to hear the final whistle, happy with a point and happy to have the time to rest

tired bodies before the trip to Wimborne on Saturday.  

COYR       

Beaconsfield Town

Ayman Azaze, Callum Webb, Toby Little, Mark Nesbit, Jordan Aghatise, Matt Harriott, Kaine Kennedy-Sinclair (

Sub: Bajram Pashaj, 61), Scott Donnelly ©, Nathan Minhas, Aaron Minhas (Sub: Daniel Bradshaw, 78), Olly McCoy (Sub Jordan Ajanlekoko 85) 

Subs Not Used: Harry Tucker, Dylan Kearney

Hendon

Fred Burbidge, Tafari Moore, Tommy Brewer (Sub Kyron Richards 46), Jayden Clarke, Christian Smith, Sam Dreyer, Anis Nuur, Hamza Semakula, Joe White (Sub Leone Gravata 61), Liam Brooks, Gianni Crichlow

Subs not used : Sam Corcoran, Cain Keller, Kendall Atagymafi

Att: 

Referee: Charlie Bullock

Assistants: Simon Weston and David Pilling