Non-League and Academy football writer

Woodford Town faced Sporting Bengal United on Wednesday night at Ashtons Playing Fields, in a quarter-final tie of this season’s Peter Butcher Memorial Trophy. In the Essex Senior League, Woodford Town are currently in second place in the league, with Sporting Bengal United in fifth place in the league. This cup match was won 5-0 by Woodford Town. It was Woodford Town who started the game the better of the two sides, and they would take an early lead through Ernest Okoh. After moving the ball around the pitch with pace and purpose, Woodford’s first goal of the game came from a good passing move. Nathan Sollosi would pass the ball to Marko Protic (I believe that it was Marko Protic who provided the first assist of the game), who then played a through-ball pass to Ernest Okoh, who was through on goal inside the Sporting Bengal United penalty area, from where he calmly finished with a low effort into the goal, and past the goalkeeper, Alexandar Kovacevic, 1-0. Sporting Bengal United tried to respond. A lofted pass to Adeniyi Gbolahan on the right-hand side of the Woodford penalty area, would result in him hitting an effort over the goal, on the bounce.

Shortly after Sporting Bengal United player Joe Gregory managed to get onto the ball on the left-hand side of the Woodford box, Gregory would have an effort from a difficult angle saved by goalkeeper Eddie Allan. After Alexandar Kovacevic saw an effort go just wide of his left post, at pace, Nathan Sollosi hit a low, deflected effort wide of the Sporting Bengal United goal. The chances kept on coming, and shortly after an effort from inside the Sporting Bengal United box had been saved by Kovacevic, Nathan Sollosi would deliver a cross into the penalty area, picking out Marko Protic, who headed the ball into the goal, 2-0. Shane Baptiste’s Woodford Town side had been playing some really good, fast passing football during the first half of the match. Another good passing move from Woodford Town would result in Ernest Okoh having an effort from the right-hand side of the Sporting Bengal United penalty area, which was saved by the feet of Alexandar Kovacevic. A couple of minutes later, Ernest Okoh would go on a good forward run with the ball, towards the edge of the away team’s penalty area, before hitting a low effort on goal which was saved by Kovacevic.

Having dominated possession of the ball during the first half and also limited the chances of the away side as well, Woodford Town were looking for a third goal before half-time, and it would arrive not long before the half-time break. It was a tremendous goal from Marko Protic, with the talented Woodford Town forward hitting a wonderful lobbed effort on the bounce from the right side of the pitch (around 25 yards out from goal) over the head of Alexandar Kovacevic, and into the Sporting Bengal United goal, 3-0. Just before the referee had sounded his whistle for half-time, Nathan Sollosi had hit a good low effort wide of Alexandar Kovacevic’s goal, following a good forward run with the ball. Sporting Bengal United would improve during the early stages of the second half, as they managed a couple of early goal attempts. However, the first real chances of the second half, came Woodford Town’s way. Nathan Sollosi had an effort from close range well saved by Alexandar Kovacevic, after meeting a low cross inside the Sporting Bengal United penalty area, just before Jed Brown-Johnson had hit an effort over, from the edge of the penalty area.

After a fairly quiet spell in the game, Woodford Town would get their fourth goal of the match. It came from another slick passing move, as Nathan Sollosi squared the ball from the left-hand side of the Sporting Bengal United box, to Marcus Painter, who was able to tap the ball past Alexandar Kovacevic from close range, 4-0. A really fine effort from Marcus Painter soon after, on the edge of the Sporting Bengal United penalty area, was met by goalkeeper Kovacevic, who managed to get a hand on the ball. However, he was unable to gather the ball, which did appear to have crossed the goal-line, before he managed to get the ball clear, although no goal was given by the referee. Shortly after Adeniyi Gbolahan (he was probably Sporting Bengal United’s best player in the game) had hit an effort over the Woodford Town goal, on the bounce from the edge of their box, the away side had a man sent off. With Jake Godfrey being shown a red card by the referee for a challenge on last man, Marcus Painter on the edge of the Sporting Bengal United penalty area, Woodford Town would have one very late chance to extend their lead from.

Marko Protic would step-up to take the free-kick, and his impressively taken low effort found the bottom left-hand corner of the goal, to secure his hat-trick goal, 5-0. Woodford Town’s number nine, Marko Protic was my player of the match on Wednesday night. He was in excellent form in front of goal, and his movement and work off the ball was very good. Woodford Town will face either Stanway Rovers or Clacton in the semi-finals of the competition. I was really impressed with how Woodford Town approached this cup game yesterday, and the intensity in which they played the game at, and also the football that they played at times was very, very good.