Hornchurch match report
match report by Jamie Cutteridge
Hornchurch (noun): Suburban town in East London
“We went to watch Ks lose at Hornchurch.”
Hornchurch (verb): to win, by any means necessary, often ugly, normally with a lucky goal against the run of play
“Hornchurch really Hornchurched their way to victory.”
We’ve all seen enough Kingstonian v Hornchurch games to know how it goes. Ks have plenty of possession, create changes, but are ultimately undone by a hard-working, niggly Essex side who leave with the 3 points. And so it seemed to be going as this Isthmian league encounter as, despite plenty of the ball and a few half chances, the two sides went into the dressing room at half time locked in a goalless draw.
The always-dangerous Corie Andrews came closest, but his deflected cutback dribbled just wide while at the other end, another deflection saw the ball loop just wide of Rob Tolfrey’s goal, as did a few other efforts, but in truth it was a half dominated by hard work and dogged defending. It was time for the second half, time to be Hornchurched…
Except… it didn’t happen, Ks began the half on the front foot, and, unlike in so many other Hornchurch encounters, they stayed on the front foot. Elliot Buchanan and Kadell Daniel both went close before Ks ‘Hornchurched’ their way in front. After a decent spell of pressure, the ball dropped to Tom Kavanagh 30 yards out; while his shot was well hit, it didn’t look overly dangerous until the ball took a wicked deflection of Urchins’ defender Nathan Cooper, wrongfooting the keeper and sending the ball spinning into the net. Hornchurch had been Hornchurched.
If Ks first goal was lucky, their second was anything but. Summer recruit Tom Howard had yet to make his mark at Ks, and it was a bit of a surprise when he was thrown on in place of Elliot Buchanan at 0-0, but he produced the game’s standout moment as Ks’ doubled their league. The languid midfielder picked the ball up in his own half after some typically good defensive work from Gus Sow; Howard’s ball over the top to Corie Andrews put the frontman away and it was a bit of a surprise when the man bursting forward to support him was Howard, racing after his own past. Howard took the ball back, lolloped past the full back before putting a brilliant cross in from the left. There was still a lot for Kadell Daniel to the as the ball dropped to him awkwardly, but the winger got his first Ks goal with a wonderfully improvised, acrobatic finish. Ks second goal in ten minutes secured all 3 points and if their first was typical Hornchurch, the second was typical Bird-ball.
Kingstonian: Rob Tolfrey, Harry Osborne, Fabio Saraiva, Simon Cooper, Ollie Cook, Tom Kavanagh, Tom Richards, Gus Sow, Elliott Buchanan, Kadell Daniel, Corie Andrews.
Subs: Omarr Lawson, Tom Howard (for Elliott Buchanan, 65m), Jerry Puemo (for Corie Andrews, 90m+4), Juevan Spencer (for Kadell Daniel, 90m), Teo Kurtaran.
Hornchurch: Joe Wright, Mickey Parcell, Mark Onyemah, Nathan Cooper, Rickie Hayles, Matt Johnson, Charlie Ruff, Jordan Clark, George Purcell, Chris Dickson, Ellis Brown.
Subs: Ronnie Winn (for Charlie Ruff, 75m), Charlie Stimson (for Rickie Hayles, 75m), Tommy Cummings, Sakariya Hassan (for Chris Dickson, 75m).
Goal scorers: Tom Kavanagh (70m, 1-0), Kadell Daniel (79m, 2-0)
Attendance: 366
