First Team Vs Tooting Bec

9 February 2019

London Senior Trophy semi-final

Erith and Belvedere          2          Hill 33, Ogunbiyi 65

Tooting Bec                         0

DERES BEAT BEC AS THEY CALL ON JOJO

For the second season running, Deres knocked Tooting Bec out of the London Senior Trophy at the semi-final stage.  But whereas last year’s tie at Tooting was a 7-1 stroll, this was a much tighter affair that could have gone either way.  Tooting Bec went on to win their league last season and are now at the same level as Deres.  They gave a good account of themselves and were the first team in seven games to keep Harry Harding off the scoresheet.

Indeed it was Bec who had the first chance of the game on 11 minutes, when Alistair Wilshere and Daniel Ogunmade combined but got in each other’s way to send a shot wide.  Connor Dobson was set up by Chan Quan shortly afterwards and had a shot deflected over the bar.  Dobson was involved in a superb flowing move midway through the half, when a Bec corner was cleared and the ball worked upfield via Harding, Guy Mpungi and Dobson to Ramell Lake whose shot cleared the bar.  Two minutes later Lake was fed by Harding but scuffed the shot.

The breakthrough came on 33 minutes, when a George Jones free-kick was not cleared and the ball bounced around the Bec area before coming out to Tony Hill.  The Deres’ right back drilled the ball through a crowd of bodies to notch his fourth goal of the season.

Three minutes later a Lake free-kick was parried away and Harding’s follow-up header hit the bar.  It remained 1-0 at the interval, and another Harding header on 48 minutes, a diving effort to meet Quan’s cross, could have produced a spectacular second but was very well saved by David Whyte.

On 64 minutes calamity struck the Bec defence as two players slipped to let Joseph Ogunbiyi in on goal.  Central defender Tom Field tripped him in the box to concede a penalty.  But for once Harding failed: ten of his 32 goals so far this season have come from the spot, but this one was too close to Whyte who pulled off the save.  It was as close as he came to extending his scoring streak to seven games.

Whyte, however, turned from hero to villain barely a minute later when he managed to drop a cross from Deres’ right wing and Ogunbiyi pounced to make it 2-0.  It was his first goal in five games and was welcomed heartily by all.  For the rest of the game Tooting Bec pressed but the Deres defence was equal to everything they faced, notably when Reggie Yembra cleared off the line from Wilshere.  And Deres finished a successful outing with a final and a 12-game unbeaten run.

DERES:Teeley; Hill, Barrett, Lake, Yembra, G Jones, Dobson (Muchenje 77), Quan, Ogunbiyi (Curtis 72), Harding, Mpungi.

TOOTING BEC: Whyte; Thompson, Wheeler (Martin 67), Parsons, Field, Thurbon, Patel (Ogidi 67), Ogunmade (Heravi ht), Wilshere, Oritis, Mbango.