We Are The Stags Online

Forest looking for their third win in succession against lowly Great Wakering, had Matthew Judge starting up front and kept Nej Hussein in goal, this as reward for good showings in the previous two matches.
 Great Wakering came to the Lodge with a game plan that almost got them three points: a great deal of shouting was a minus to their plan but the way they hassled the Stags every time they got the ball meant that the home team had little time on the ball and were often pressured into making passes that were hurried and inaccurate.
The opening two minutes looked quite good for the Stags, they put Rovers under some pressure but all went wrong in the 3rd minute when Rovers took a surprise lead. Rovers counter attacked after the Stags had lost the ball and play came to the Stags half 40 yards out from goal.  Joel Etienne Clarke stole the ball from home defender Marc Ward after he’d slipped; his quick pass to Steve Butterworth opened up the home defence and Butterworth was able to cross for Neil Richmond to score at the near post. Really a very good goal.
Rovers continued to press and could have gone further ahead on 20 minutes when Batunga gave away a free kick on the left touch line. The kick was swung over and Buterworth was able to rise and head goalward bringing a good save from Hussein. Thankfully, the flag was raised for off side.
After half an hour had passed, the Stags seemed to be starting to find their way forward and began to look more menacing but they were still suffering from the close attentions of the Rovers marking which was still very effective.
Rovers applied more pressure and won a series of corners around the 40 minute mark.
Things changed however, on the 43^rd minute when Papy Kanyuka made space for himself on the right and cut back a perfect ball to the edge of the six yard box: Afolabi Orilonishe was on hand to stab the ball home with Rovers defenders having left him unmarked. Suddenly the Stags burst into life and had three more scoring chances before the end of the half. Both Orilonishe and Matthew Judge turned on the style and Rovers looked punch drunk until the whistle to end the half.
Forest must have wished that there was no interval when they returned to the pitch, they were unable to replicate the play of those final first half moments. Rovers were able to compose themselves in the break and effectively shut out the home side for long periods.
On the hour Rovers attacked and had three chances in the space of ten seconds, they hit the post, miss kicked and brought a brilliant save fro Hussein which probably earned the home side the points.
That’s not to say that Rovers did not get let off too. Once again Kanyuka was involved on the right wing. H cut into the box again and passed to Thomas whose first time shot was stopped on the line by John Heffer.
Then Orilonishe had a really good chance when he broke down the left wing but he was cynically upended by Butterworth who was yellow carded for his troubles.
The game ended with Stags ruing their missed chances, they could have taken all three points on the 90^th minute after Kanyuka, once again, got the ball over to Thomas whose deft header was well saved by Harrison.
Both Rovers and Forest had chances to get the winner, indeed Forest must thank ‘keeper Nej Hussein for some great ‘keeping which allowed a divisionof the spoils.

Although Harlow probably had 60% of the possession, they had very little cutting edge to their attack and only had two shots on target during the whole match. Conversely, the Stags looked dangerous every time they attacked and could have scored on a number of occasions.

For the opening ten minutes it was Harlow who had the majority of the possession but even from that early stage it was possible to see that the Harlow side lacked any kind of bite up front.

In those early stages it was also obvious that the home attack was much more penetrative with Kanyuka, back to his old form, running at the Harlow rearguard. It took twenty minutes for the first real chance to materialise and that came from a Kanyuka cross which had to be put out for a corner by Kevin Warren.

Soon Stuart Houghton began to make an impression on the left. In the 31^st minute he slammed over a lovely cross which ‘keeper Jamie Riley could only tip onto the onrushing Danny Chapman; the ball cannoned off him onto the post and out for another corner. Another attack and an excellent cross from Kanyuka presaged forthcoming events. On 32 minutes he crossed again for Houghton who put the ball low and hard into the penalty area where Jermain Hughes was running in to score.

An excellent goal from an excellent piece of football.

On 38 Harlow had their first real chance when Tobi Ositola found himself free with the ball 15 yards out and at a 45 degree angle to the goal: he shot but wildly over the crossbar.

Half time came with the Stags looking the more complete, adventurous and composed team.

Once the teams turned around it became obvious how much the wind was behind Harlow in the first half, it was now Forest’s turn to come to terms with it in the weight of the passes.

Harlow tried to push on but the half time pep talk had changed nothing, they still lacked bite and, every time the Stags came forward there was danger for the rather ragged Harlow defence.

It was Matthew Judge who was to pull the first save of the half from Riley, indeed he went on to have an excellent half becoming involved in almost every attack. It was not only Judge who was making a mark; Jermain Hughes’ constant running in defence an attack became a nightmare for the visitors. On 61 minutes hegot to the goal line and cut back a beautiful ball which was just too quick for three Stags attackers to get to.

As the half wore on, the Stags mounted even more attacks but the ball stayed ou of the net due to off sides and some luck. In the end, after 92 minutes Kanyuka rose to head home a corner with the last touch of the match.

This was a very much improved Stags performance against a side looking to consolidate a high table position. The Stags used the wings freely and often made Chats’ keeper Louis Green look slightly uncomfortable with his defence and what the pressure from the visitors was asking him to do.

Chats had two promising attacks, one at the very start of the match and one at the very end. In between, the Stags defence really outplayed the home attack in what was a very clean and well fought contest, well refereed by Eltham’s Mr Crouch.

Moments after the starting whistle, Chats’ Brendan Cass found himself running through the Stags’ midfield as if Moses had parted the waters. However, this was not to be a “Wivenhoe” moment: before he could loose a shot both Bastian and Batunga managed to snuff out the threat but it looked dicey for a moment.

Within five minutes, the Stags seemed to have sussed out both their opponents and the playing conditions and began to pass the ball out to both wings with effect. On 7 minutes Darren Duporte beat Andy Boyle Down the left to swing a beautiful cross over for Leon McKenzie, by himself on the six yard box, he seemed to have too much time and uncharacteristically headed over the bar.

Moments later the Stags missed a half chance form a corner then Fola Orilnishe touched on a lovely pass to Wes Thomas who turned and shot just over the bar.

This was the difference in the two teams: the Stags were playing football that would normally only be seen on dry pitches.

Soon Papy Kanyuka (back to close to his old form) got in on the action and came down the inside right channel cutting the ball back for McKenzie whose excellent shot was blocked on the line.

A further indication of the Stags’ superiority was shown by the amount of times both Mark Ward and Nicky Stevens came into the attack. On 17 minutes Stevens was unlucky not to score when Kanyuka laid a square pass into Chats’ penalty area for Ward to flash the ball across the goal only to see Green make a great save diving to his right.

On 21 minutes, Chatham had their first attempt at goal when Billiness met a cross but his header was easily dealt by ‘keeper Nej Hussein.

Soon Stags were on the attack again and Batunga joined the attack to scuff a shot wide from a position he would normally be expected to score from. Chatham attacked the depleted home defence and profited from a mistake in the Stags defence but, in the end the attack petered out with a poor shot that went well wide of the mark.

The last real scoring chance of the half fell to the Stags when Kanyuka was first to a well taken free kick but his header was brilliantly tipped over the bar by Green.

Having played so well in the first half and not scored, the Stags must have wondered where the goal was going to come: the answer was in Matthew Judge who joined the fray on the hour. They’d started the second half by creating three chances early on but that ball was just not going to go in.

With what may well have been his first touch of the ball Judge made himself free on the edge of the Chatham penalty area, he dummied the defender and stole two yards, spotted Green out of his goal and curled the ball deftly around him into the net.

It was not long before Judge was in action again, this time only foiled by the mud. Hw latched onto a long ball out of defence and cut past his defender on the left wing. Once again Green came out to cut down the angle. Judge lobbed for the empty net but this time the strength in the ball was nullified by the mud and a defender was able to scramble back and clear the ball from the line.

The Stags continued to press to make the game safe but in the final moments it took Batunga’s last ditch tackle to prevent Chatham from scoring after a melee in the Stags’ penalty area. If they’d scored it would have been a travesty as the win was a fair result.