St Albans 2-2 Barking & Dagenham

BARKING & DAGENHAM U11S HAD to settle for a share of the spoils after an entertaining 2-2 draw away to St. Albans in their latest representative fixture. Amin Karim’s brace had looked like giving his side the victory, only to be denied by a last gasp equaliser. 

After a scrappy start, Barking & Dagenham settled in to their rhythm and created the game’s first chance after seven minutes. Karim was found by a clever ball from Kien Connolly but the former saw his low drive fly narrowly wide.

Connelly then saw his goalbound effort blocked before Karin went close with a snap shot from twelve yards.

Reward

The visitors continued to dominate and their pressure was finally rewarded when they went in front. Harry Milburn’s neat pass set up Connolly, who’s cross was turned home by Karim. Connolly almost doubled the lead, moments later, but his powerful free kick was inches too high. 

Joe Martin’s long throws were a constant threat and on two occasions Barking & Dagenham nearly capitalised. Firstly, Connolly’s shot was well saved by Alexei Rojas  before Karim flashed an effort across the face of goal.

The home side had little threat going forward but were given a chance to level things up when they were awarded a penalty just before the break. Bradley Smith, who won the spot kick, stepped up to send Brandon Dean the wrong way and send the teams in on level terms. 

Scrappy

The second half started in a scrappy fashion, with neither side being able to exert any real pressure.

Once again the first chance of the half fell to Barking & Dagenham. Mason Stanton’s ball over the St. Albans’ back four was volleyed goalwards by Karim but he was unable to hit the target. Milburn then saw his long range effort palmed away by Rojas. From the resulting corner, Millburn almost picked out Favour Fawunwi at the back post but his volley flew wide. 

The home side began to grow into the game as the half went on and they almost took the lead against the run of play. Henry Burt’s fierce free kick struck the crossbar with Dean well beaten.

Inspired

However, the visitors still looked the more likely to score and only some inspired keeping from Rojas kept the scores level. First, he produced an outstanding save to keep out Martin’s flying volley from the edge of the area. He followed that up with another memorable save. This time denying Charlie Rich; whose low drive looked destined for the net.

From the resulting Milburn corner, Emis Gasperavicius went close but his header was hacked cleared. Gasperavicius was soon set free by a clever Connolly through ball and only a brilliant, last gasp challenge by Joel Withworth denied the William Bellamy man. 

Barking & Dagenham continued to press and finally found a way past Rojas with a well worked goal. Millburn, Rich and Karim combined to release Connolly down the left. The Valence man went past his marker and, with the home side appealing in vain for a decision, he cut the ball back into the path of the onrushing Karim who made no mistake from twelve yards. 

Impressive

The home side threw caution to the wind after the restart but they found the Barking & Dagenham defence, marshalled by the impressive Qudus Onajobi, in fine form. A number of attacks were snuffed out by some fantastic tackling and it looked as if they had done enough to hold on to the win.

St. Albans did get a sight of goal with time running out but Dean dived bravely at the feet of Seb Ferdinand. 

That looked to be the last chance but, much to the dismay of the visitors, the referee found an extra three minutes and Barking & Dagenham fell to a sucker punch in the last of the added time. There was a hint of offside as Smith broke free but the flag didn’t come and his cross was slotted home by Ferdinand. 

There was barely time to restart as the final whistle sounded soon after. The result was harsh on Barking & Dagenham as they had dominated large parts of the game against a very good side. However, they will be buoyed by their display so early in their season. 

Barking & Dagenham: Dean (D Barley),  Onajobi (Becontree), Karim (Parsloes), Milburn (Five Elms), Gasperavicius (W Bellamy), Connolly, Rich, Martin (Valence), Stanton (Eastbury), Fawunmi (H Hall)