Hendon 2-1 Gosport Borough

Hendon: Rihards MATREVICS, Simeon OLARERIN, Lucas PERRY, Tommy BREWER ©, Tom SMITH, Eddie OSHODI, Shaun LUCIEN, Kieron FORBES, Joe WHITE, Percy KIANBENGI, Liam BROOKS. Sub: Ando GEORGIOU, Luca ALLISON, Joe FELIX, Sam CORCORAN, Kingsley ESHUN.

Gosport Borough: Patrick O’FLAHERTY, Daniel STRUGNELL, Rory WILLIAMS, Michael CARTER ©, Ryan WOODFORD, Samuel ROBERTS, Liam ROBINSON, Chris FLOOD, George BARKER, Charlie KENNEDY, Marley RIDGE. Sub: Matthew PATERSON, Alan WALKER-HARRIS, Oluwatobi ADEKUNLE, Charlie DAVIS, Alex JOHN.

Hendon’s recent climb up the table continued, with their third win in a row against 9th place Gosport Borough in well fought game. Despite stiff resistance from a rugged Gosport midfield and defence the Greens kept the ball well and took their chances when they came, running out 2-1 winners and placing five points between them and the bottom three.

The game began pretty much as expected. Hendon, being the home tea, were expected to take the initiative whereas Gosport were happy to break up and play their counter attacking game. Although the play was mostly in the Gosport half it took 18 minutes for the first big chance for either, and strangely both teams. A brilliant bit of skill from Hendon’s Percy Kianbengi gave him space out on the left wing. From a tight angle his shot hit off the bar and fell to Liam Brooks who squared it into the path of a Gosport defender. With virtually an open goal to aim at, Brooks really should have shot. He was nearly made to pay for his mistake, as before you could blink Gosport were up the other end. Were it not for a great save from Rihards Matrevics, from a close range Gosport effort the visitors would have been ahead. For the most part the first half was a series of great individual moments that ultimately led nowhere.

In fact in the latter stages of the first half it was Gosport who pushed forward, a brilliant one-two between winger George Barker and left back Rory Williams, in the 31st minute resulted in the latter shooting just wide. Ten minutes later Shaun Lucien found himself in the box but shot wide of the Gosport post. Half time, 0-0, but the signs were encouraging for the Greens, they had broken through the Boro’ back line several times and had generally managed to keep out the away team’s counter attacks.

For the second half Hendon came out with their tails up and dominated the play. Within 10 minutes they were 1-0 up. Shaun Lucien cutting inside from the left and sending a shot right into the Gosport net. They didn’t stop there either, they continued to push forward and nearly got a second when Lucien hit his 61st minute just over the Gosport bar. Hendon controlled the game, pushing Gosport back, and in the 75th minute they got their second, Joe White on the rebound of a corner that was headed against the bar, 2-0. In the 80th minute White nearly got a second, taking it around Patrick O’Flahtery only to see his shot blocked on the line. Gosport right back Daniel Strugnell, nearly cost his team a second, a miss hit back pass going past his goalkeeper, only for the post to spare his blushes. In the end it was Gosport who struck next, substitute Matthew Paterson in the 87th minute, smashing home a close range effort to pull it back to 2-1. All it did was to make the next 3 minutes and additional 5 nerve-racking for the home fans, but the score was unchanged.