Hawks back to winning ways

The Hawks went into this game knowing that three points would move them up to one point behind Needham Market and put the pressure on the league leaders.

There were two changes to the team that faced Brentwood in the previous outing – Warren Goodhind replaced unavailable Daniel Matsuzaka, and Luke Cuthbert came in for Shane Stamp.

Harlow started the game brightly and went close to opening the scoring in the 10th minute. Neat interplay inside the box between James Smith and Alex Read put Smith through on goal. The Aveley goalkeeper could only parry the shot to Cuthbert’s feet, but his shot hit the post and was cleared.

The Hawks continued to press with both Junior Appiah and Cuthbert having shots blocked, before their efforts were rewarded in the 16th minute. A floated free kick found Appiah at the back post who cut back for Fabion Simms to hit home into an empty net from 5 yards out.

Aveley were looking dangerous on the counter-attack, and right-back Paul Preston was causing problems for the Hawks defence with his long throw-ins. In the 21st minute one of his throws was diverted into the back of the Harlow net, but the Aveley striker was adjudged to have handled it on the way in.

The score was levelled on 32 minutes, when a Harlow attack broke down, and Aveley striker Jack Stevenson ran with the ball at his feet before releasing it. When the ball came back to him moments later on the edge of the box he finished well into the top corner.

Both teams continued to threaten for the rest of the half without success until on the stroke of half-time one of the game’s contentious moments came about. Harlow’s Alex Read received the ball in the penalty area and it appeared that his legs were taken from under him. The referee waved away his appeals for a penalty, and moments later the whistle went to conclude an end-to-end half.

HT: Aveley 1 – 1 Harlow Town

Harlow started the second half in much the same way as the first, with a high-tempo, but Aveley were fast and dangerous on the counter-attack. They had their best chance to take the lead when on 58 minutes a deep free kick was looped into the box and almost beat Ed Thompson in the Harlow goal. The ball floated over his head but hit the post and was cleared.

The deadlock was broken once again by Harlow on 64 minutes. A lovely through-ball from Smith to Read was calmly finished by the prolific striker, marking his 30th goal of the season. The Aveley defence and bench clamoured for offside, but after a brief word with his assistant the referee gave the goal.

Despite being a goal down, Aveley looked most likely to score again as the half went on with substitutes Tyler Devlin and Kyle Asante causing problems down the right flank. 76 minutes saw a scramble in the Harlow area, but the ball wouldn’t fall to an Aveley player to finish.

The Harlow defence continued to hold firm for the final ten minutes, Joshua Urquhart getting in the way of several shots, and the full-time whistle went to the relief of the away following.

FT: Aveley 1 – 2 Harlow Town

In all it was an entertaining match, with no shortage of chances created from both sides. Harlow came out of the blocks the fastest in each half, but Aveley pressured more and more as time went on.

The win puts Harlow in a commanding position, just a point off top spot with a game in hand.

You can see the goals on YouTube:

Harlow's first goal
Aveley equaliser
Harlow winner

The next game for the Hawks is away to Tilbury on Saturday 13th December, 3pm kick off.