Match Reports
Waltham Forest suffered a 0-5 home defeat to Leiston in the Ryman League on Saturday, November 19.
It was their second consecutive defeat after losing 1-0 away to Heybridge Swift in midweek.
Rhys Henry, David Head, Luke Hammond, Danny Smy and Nathan Stone got the goals for Leiston.
In a match which they also had two players sent off, Forest would have expected a tough challenge from a third place team that sits seven points ahead of them,
And the first setback came in the fourth minute when a cross from the left was headed powerfully past stand-in captain Aaron Omand in goal by the unmarked Henry.
Forest responded immediately with Manu Dagher breaking into the visitor’s box but his shot went wide.
This sparked a period of play which saw Forsest creating several chances.
First Jeff Hammond’s close range shot from a right-sided cross was parried for a corner.
Three minutes later Dagher squared tantalisingly for Hammond but the Leiston defence just managed to avert the danger.
Lukman Moheed then fired just wide of the left post after a good build-up by the home side.
Leiston responded with a few chances but were prevented from scoring by good goalkeeping and poor finishing.
Forest’s best opportunity to equalise came in the 45th minute but with only the goalkeeper to beat Dagher failed to score, and the half ended advantage Leiston.
The Blues struck immediately after the break when Forest failed to clear a cross, allowing Head to finish.
And when Josh Bonnett was red-carded in the 60th after being shown a second yellow, he took some of Forest’s hope of a comeback with him to the players’ dressing room.
Ten minutes later L. Hammond got Leiston’s third, and the game was virtually over when Ibrahim Conteh was shown Forest’s second red card for what the referee deemed a dangerous challenge.
It was left to Smy and substitute Stone to seal the issue with goals in the 84th and 86th minutes, condemning Forest to a loss in the first ever match between the two teams.
Report by William Winthrop
A lacklustre and ill-disciplined Forest lost 5-0 at home to high-flying Leiston to make it five league games without a victory.
Forest couldn’t have started the game any worse when Forest’s Antone Douglas misjudged a long kick by Leiston’s goalkeeper Jamie Stannard, and the resulting cross was expertly headed home by Leiston’s Rhys Henry to leave Forest 1-0 down after just three minutes.
Forest responded well to the early setback, and gained a foothold in the game, but struggled to penetrate the Leiston defence with a telling final ball. Forest’s best attacks came down the right side with Dagher and Sackey combining well. Dagher’s jinking runs were a bright spot for Forest in the first half, and he came close to levelling the scores in the 44th minute when his darting run through the defence was followed by a terrific save by Stannard. When the corner was wasted, Forest players began to show their frustration with Josh Bonnett getting booked for dissent.
At halftime both teams were struggling to find a way to create chances but just two minutes after the restart Leiston doubled their advantage with a brilliant finish by defender David Head. Forest’s defence failed to convincingly clear a cross and Head curled the ball into the top corner leaving Aaron Omand no chance. After going 2-0 down, Forest continued to press for a goal, but lacked a killer ball. Frustration manifested into anger for Bonnett, who lashed out on Leiston’s right winger. The referee immediately gave Bonnett his second yellow card. The red card summed up a miserable day for Bonnett, who had gone in hard on Stannard moments before the second yellow. And seven minutes later the referee produced the red card again, when he sent off Forest’s Ibrahim Conteh for a dangerous two-footed tackle.
Leiston took advantage of their two man advantage almost immediately in the 70th minute, with Luke Hammond playing a lovely 1-2 on the edge of the Forest area before placing the ball past the helpless Omand to give Forest no chance of getting back into the game. Leiston used their advantage to play some fantastic football, with Forest players chasing shadows. And instead of sitting back on their lead Leiston continued to attack, and added a quick-fire double in the last five minutes of the game. Firstly the impressive Henry played a brilliant through ball for Danny Smy to race onto a hit a powerful shot at goal which Omand could only get a hand to it before the ball nestled into the corner. And Forest failed to settle themselves after the goal, with Leiston substitute Nathan Stone headed in after Henry’s volley rattled Omand’s bar to make it 5-0. It could have been six just a minute later but Leiston were denied by a terrific goal-line clearance after Omand had been rounded.
A poor ball in stoppage time summed up Waltham Forest’s poor use of possession as they lost a game where the red cards in all likelihood only changed how many Leiston won by. The win means Waltham Forest drop three places to 11th, six points from the play-offs with three games in hand of Brentwood, the team who occupy 5th spot.
Photos by Rod Lewis
