Boreham made the long trip round the M25 towards Kent to Averley for this ‘Mid-Essex’ league cup encounter against Stags Head again missing a few key players but with enough strength in depth to field a strong side. The absent few were De Vito, Stammers, Jay Dale, Bigland, Carter and Chittock. However Boreham welcomed new signing and a return to the team for Max Castledine. Also in the squad was Adam Dale, now fit enough to join Castledine on the bench.
The 11 that lined up were made up of McGlynn in goal, Parsons, Charter, Simpson and Powell in defence, Smith, Ince, Goodchild and Rush in the midfield with Parkhurst and Cowcher upfront.
With a poor playing surface being clearly evident from the warm up, Boreham knew that would not play to their strengths but despite this they started well. They limited Stags head to very few opportunities but were dealt a blow when Charter had to go off injured which meant Castledine was brought on after about 15 minutes.
Neither team was able to string together much in the way of flowing football but it was Boreham who broke the deadlock mid-way through the first half. A free kick was headed back across goal by Goodchild where Cowcher was on hand to bundle the ball home from close range.
Towards the end of the half a second goal followed, this time it was a trademark missile throw in from the half way line from Castledine which bounced once on its way to the back post where Cowcher guided in a header from close range. 2-0 to the visitors and perhaps a touch more than they deserved given the few chances for either side in the first half.
Boreham made one tactical change at halftime; Parkhurst was replaced by Dale in a straight swap up top as Boreham looked to inject more pace in the final third.
The second half was not going well for Boreham; they were on the back foot for large parts, despite creating a few chances to extend their lead. But Stags Head staged a second half fight back beginning when the unmarked striker head a goal from close range from a well delivered corner. The Stags equaliser soon followed when a hopeful ball forward was headed goalward beyond Magsy rushing out. Boreham heads appeared to drop and Stags continues to push forward.
Good chances were fluffed by Boreham in the shape of Ince and Cowcher, before the home side’s winner came with just minutes to spare. Simpson appeared to lose his footing and then the ball inside his own area allowing the Stags forward to nip in and square to his strike partner who was left with a simple tap in despite the last ditch efforts of Castledine to squash the clear cut chance. A killer blow for the men in Yellow and Green as time was almost up.
One final chance fell to Boreham when Smith pulled the ball back to Dale whose shot was going wide but then fell to the feet of Cowcher who saw his effort canon back off the bar from close range.
The final whistle blew and Boreham, on the balance of play, did not really deserve anything out the game. Very disappointing effort as too many of the players did not seem up for it or just happened to have very bad days. A couple of positives to take out of the game were the performances of Castledine and Cowcher. Castledine will no doubt look to cement a regular place on the back of a performance like that.
Next week sees Boreham entertain Premier division Silver End in the Dave Strachan Cup 2nd round. Silver End will no doubt prove tough opposition but surely Boreham can’t play any worse than they did for this game.
