Match Report
Bishop’s Stortford 1-0 Leyton Orient Match Report 1/8/23
Hamish Arnold
Bishop’s Stortford bounced back from the heavy defeat against Sittingbourne with a 1-0 win against Sky Bet League One Leyton Orient. Darren Foxley scored the only goal of the game in the second half. The Blues begin the Vanarama National League North campaign at home to Chester on Saturday.
Zain Walker – on loan from Aldershot Town – played a through ball to Ryan Charles, his low shot was saved and Sam Howes parried Foxley’s shot on the rebound as well. Charlie Pegrum was a constant threat for the visitors, firstly testing the Stortford defence when he cut in off the left and shot from 25 yards, but Ryan Henshaw made the block and Jack Giddens caught the high ball. Howes punched clear an inswinging corner from Foxley, and Jack Morrell couldn’t get the required dip from his free kick that went over the wall but also cleared the crossbar. Pegrum got away from Billy Cracknell but his low left footed shot was well saved by Giddens.
HT 0-0
Zech Obiero fired wide from the right side of the box with his left foot, narrowly missing the bottom left corner, and Emmanuel Harvest headed wide from a left wing cross. Howes brilliantly denied a long range strike from Walker that was destined for the top right corner, with a full length dive he tipped it over the crossbar. Substitute Ola Ogunwamide dribbled into the box from the right wing and was fouled for a certain penalty, which Foxley dispatched into the top right corner. There was almost an equaliser from a calamitous own goal, when Cracknell tried to header a low cross back to Giddens, when the keeper had come out to catch the ball, but he scrambled back and dived on the loose ball before it crossed the line. Ogunwamide dribbled from his own half and into the box, Archie Jones made a diagonal run creating space for him to move into, but the low shot lacked power and direction. A substitute trialist goalkeeper for the Blues preserved the clean sheet and victory late on with Pegrum forcing him into a low save down to his left in the dying stages.
FT 1-0
TEAMS
Bishop’s Stortford XI
1 Jack Giddens (Trialist #13 84’)
2 Billy Cracknell
4 Jack Thomas (Trialist #20 75’)
5 Trialist
6 Ryan Henshaw (c) (Ekpiteta 68’)
9 George Sykes (Trialist #10 46’)
14 Darren Foxley (Goal pen 56’)
15 Ryan Charles (Ogunwamide 53’)
16 Zain Walker (Jones 68’)
18 Ollie Peters (Howard 62’)
19 Jack Morrell (Trialist #11 62’)
Subs
5 Rob Howard
7 Ola Ogunwamide
10 Trialist
11 Trialist
12 Archie Jones
13 Trialist
17 Marvel Ekpiteta
20 Trialist
Leyton Orient XI
1 Sam Howes
2 Marley St Louis
4 SJ Nallo (Koroma 23’)
5 Harrison Sodje
6 Ivan Imasuen
7 Jephte Tanga (Oji 76’)
8 Charlie Pegrum
10 Zech Obiero
11 Emmanuel Harvest (Bullas 76’)
14 Thomas Avgousitidis
19 David Agyemang
Subs
16 Hayden Bullas
17 Uko Oji
18 Ashley Koroma
Noah Phillips
Andy Hajdini
Devine Samuel
Attendance 644
