London Bari leapfrogged above Stansted after a thrilling 3-2 victory, as Matt Dean reports.
A stunning brace from man-of-the-match Toheeb Oloyede, earned Bari a valuable three points and banished memories of their most recent outing.
Having suffered a 6-1 midweek away loss to Basildon United, Bari were eager to put things right, and despite some nerves in defence recorded a merited win, thanks to Oloyede’s first-half strikes, and a second-half goal from Castillo Herrera.
Poked
It was the visitors who started better, and in the 10th minute Ross Gill’s effort was turned behind by London Bari’s keeper Wilkinson Boateng.
Stansted’s initial pressure told and they opened the scoring after 30 minutes. Sam Ashford’s shot rebounded into the path of Jack Isherwood, who poked the ball into the net from just two yards out.
Bari hit back almost immediately. As Stansted failed to clear a harmless ball in their own half, Oloyede capitalized and bent the ball into the bottom left corner.
Just before the break, the home side took the lead. Simpson Mpalampa knocked the ball onto Oloyede again and he curled the ball past Stansted goalkeeper Reece Paine.
Oloyede had only scored once in the league prior to today’s match, so the celebrations were understandably ecstatic as the centre forward performed a back flip to further entertain the crowd.
Tense
Bari extended their lead in the second half, as a long ball from Junior Decker was hit first time by Herrera into the top left corner.
Stansted pegged a goal back in the 80 minute as Boateng was lobbed by the youngster Jordan Holdsworth. London Bari defender Sam Adbellaziz tried desperately to clear off the line but it ended up in the net.
A tense finish was on the cards as Stansted pushed for an equaliser.
Stansted player-manager Mark Ashford, who was named on the bench due to an injury crisis, brought himself on for the last 15 minutes and had a golden chance to level the scores.
The opportunity came from a corner. Ashford was unmarked in the box but his header was cleared off the line.
Stansted had one final chance to go home with a share of the spoils but Matt Ashford blasted over from two yards.
London Bari’s next game is at the Old Spotted Dog Stadium, against relegation bound Newham on Wednesday.
London Bari: Wilkinson Boateng, Samy Abdelaziz, Adam Camara (65 Rivaldo Nunes), Junior Decker, Castilo Herrera (73 Adegoke Adetunji), Simpson Mpalampa , Toheeb Oloyede (83 Aaron Pedro), Emmanuel Olukayode, Kareem Richardson, Mustapha junior Sanda, Peter Wilcox
Stansted: Reece Paine, Luke Adams, Samuel Ashford, Matthew Ashwell, Ross Gill, Jordan Holdsworth, Stuart Hoskins (75 Mark Ashford), Jack Isherwood, Chris Moore, Mark Roach, Billy Turner