On a blowy afternoon in leafy Lewisham our reserve team overcame the conditions and a very powerful Forest Hill side to reach the semi-final of the London Intermediate cup, a competition that Barking has an illustrious history in. However, it was not as straightforward as the score might suggest.

With a strong wind at our backs and a low sun in our opponents eyes, the first half saw us dominate the game, we were camped in the opposition half for long periods. Only a few swift counter attacks showed what the home side were capable of as wave after wave of Barking attacks were repelled by an ‘in-form’ keeper and some desperate and, at times, over-zealous defending. On 20 minutes, following one of many unpunished challenges in and around the edge of the penalty area, the referee finally penalised a defender and Zak Harry curled a great shot towards the top right hand corner, only a great save from the home keeper saw the ball turned over the bar for a corner.

Five minutes later from another free-kick in almost the same position young Bez Hoxhaj went one better and smash his attempt against the crossbar with the keeper, this time, well beaten. We were getting a little frustrated with our lack of success and the referee’s perceived leniency and it was capped off when a blatant foul just inside the edge of the penalty area was penalised with yet another free-kick just outside the area. Zak Harry’s attempt was blocked by the wall and Forest Hill cleared their lines and were awarded a throw-in midway down the far-side of the pitch. It was taken quickly but the ref immediately whistled and indicated that the Forest Hill player had taken it from the wrong place. However instead of reversing the throw he allowed the home side to re-take the throw. We were caught out by the resulting ball over the top and the home forward ran onto the ball and smashed it into the net. Needless to say we were not best pleased and it affected us for the next ten minutes or so during which they grabbed a second from a corner just before half-time.

We needed someone to take a grip of the game and up stepped defender Charlie Massey-Reed to create the turning point of the game. He won possession in first half injury time and surged forward linking up with forward Zak Harry. Continuing his run forward he overlapped Harry who returned the compliment skilfully passing it back to him along the right flank, he then got behind the home defence took it to the by-line and fired in a great cross that James BARLOW met with a perfectly timed run to force the ball past the keeper to make the half-time score 2-1 to Forest Hill.

The late goal revitalised us and made the half-time talk much easier for Brian and myself. We pointed out some potential weaknesses that we thought we could exploit and emphasised the need to play our game, and not to resort to long balls when playing against the wind in the second half.

Again the lads did exactly what we asked of them and the next 20 minutes saw us wrap the game up in style. In a scintillating period of play we completely overwhelmed our opponents with flowing football and quality finishing. On 48 minutes a fine ball down the right flank saw Zak Harry beat the offside trap, get to the by-line and put in a great cross for James BARLOW to score his second of the game.

Two minutes later following some more good passing in midfield saw the ball played up to the front men where Zak Harry headed the ball on for Harry Shirt, who’s shot  forced yet another fine save from the home keeper, however his parry fell to the supporting Jason KANE who calmly slotted the rebound to put us into the lead for the first time in the match.

The purple patch continued when on 54 minutes Bez Hoxhaj sent in a great corner and James BARLOW completed his second hat-trick in two games with a terrific back header over the defenders to put us 4-2 up. When we thought it couldn’t get any better on 56 minutes the impressive Hoxhaj played a superbly weighted pass inside the right back for James Barlow to latch onto, his cross was met by centre forward Harry Shirt. His shot was blocked by a defender but Zak HARRY was backing up and his right footed finish into the far post was accurate and clinical.

This made the score 5-2 and the game was effectively over as a contest. On 60 minutes Harry Shirt’s hard work was almost rewarded when a rasping drive from the edge of the box went just past the far post, again with the home keeper beaten. Overall this was a terrific team performance under difficult conditions against a physically strong Forest Hill side.

This result means we are now in the semi-finals which will take place on the 25th February and will be against either Bexley Borough or Corinthian Casuals Reserves.

Any opinions expressed in this report are those of the writer and not necessarily those of Barking Football Club