Walthamstow produced a strong defensive performance against Little Oakley on Tuesday night to gain themselves a spot in the next round of the Essex Senior Cup.
Yemi Adelani’s smart strike on the spin shortly into the second half proved enough as Stow battled through a mostly unremarkable game to win 1-0.
Shot-Shy
Straight away Little Oakley made their approach to this game clear as they sent a long ball over the top of Stow’s defence, stretching the play but the Stow were alive to the danger and confidently cleared.
The game started slowly, getting lost in a midfield battle. Stow should have created the first shot just under 15 minutes in when Connor Scully drove forward from the right, but the winger elected to pass instead, adding unnecessary complexity to the move and ultimately breaking it down.
Stow began to control the game from there with Oakley’s gameplan to sit back and look to counter only working in fits and starts.
The theme of the first half from a Stow point of view was definitely “shot-shy”. Smart play down the left by the impressive Samir Bihmoutin saw the ball cut back into a good area but captain Eman Okunja was robbed of the ball after dilly-dallying on it for too long around the penalty spot.
Another good cut-back from the left by Bihmoutin once again went unrewarded as Charlie Cole miscued his effort into Oakley keeper Dan Joyce’s gloves.
Fail To Clear, Clear To Fail
The best chance of the game fell just a minute later.
With half-time approaching, a mix-up in the Oakley defence as they failed to clear saw the ball fall kindly to Adelani who spun and fired straight at Joyce, whose reactions were superb to block.
Little Oakley failed to see the warning signs though, and three minutes after the restart fell behind.
Scully dazzled down the right and his pull-back should have been dealt with by the Oakley defenders but once again they failed to clear and this time Adelani made no mistake, swivelling on his right and striking the ball low and hard beyond the despairing Joyce with his left peg.
Oakley went close to equalising almost immediately – Oakley forward Greg Rodger was played in down the right and flashed a shot across goal to call Stow keeper Amarildo Cekrezi into action for first time but he saved well.
With last week’s late collapse against Newbury Forest game still fresh in Stow minds, John Mackie’s side had started to heavily slow the game down, somewhat to Oakley’s frustration.
That frustration boiled over around the hour mark when Rodger pushed a Stow player over when trying to recover the ball for a free-kick, earning himself a booking.
Rodger was then immediately substituted, the Oakley manager worried about the potential for a red card.
The game became a cagey affair after that, with Oakley putting the majority of the pressure on and Stow content to manage the game and look to counter through the front four of Adelani, Cole, Scully and Bihmoutin.
Improved Game Management
The dynamic had swung though and Stow weren’t able to pressure with the same intensity, encouraging Oakley to come onto them.
Five minutes from the end Oakley came the closest they had come to equalising when an Oakley free-kick was looped to the back post and headed back across goal, where an attempted flick at goal looked to be sending the ball bouncing over the line but for Ben Byrne to acrobatically clear.
Stow managed the game well beyond that, taking the ball to the corners repeatedly – much to the delight of the Waltham Rabble behind the goal.
After four minutes of added time which was characterised by Stow’s game management, the ref blew for full-time to send Walthamstow into a second round tie where they will face the winner of Buckhurst Hill or Southend Manor in mid-November.
