On Saturday Great Wakering Rovers travelled to North East London to take on Essex senior side Walthamstow in the preliminary round of the Emirates FA cup.
This was Walthamstow’s second game in the competition after thrashing sporting Bengal 5-0 in the previous round.
The game turned on its head after only 14 minutes when both sides were reduced to ten men, Walthamstow’s captain Vinny Murphy looked to have stamped on Rovers striker Brandon Diau ,unfortunately the Rovers big man reacted angrily and was judged to lead with his head in the altercation , the referee deeming it right to dismiss both men.
There were half chances for both sides before half time, but neither could break the deadlock
Half time Walthamstow 0 Great Wakering Rovers 0
The second half started brightly and there were good chances for the home side early on.
The deadlock was broken on the 51st minute when Walthamstow’s Jamie Bennett was brought down in the area, Dwade James making no mistake from the spot, however a couple of minutes later the hosts were awarded another spot kick but this time James could not replicate his earlier kick as the ball smashed against the crossbar.
Wakering seemed to be spurred on by going behind and should of levelled when the Walthamstow keeper spilled the ball from a Rovers shot, but they failed to punish them for the error on the follow up.
Rovers then made the task even harder when they were reduced to nine men, defender Henry Fisher picking up his second yellow card for a late challenge on stows Danny McCullock.
The game was then put beyond the visitors when Walthamstow made in two nil on the on the 86th minute, a cool finish from Jack Folan after a one on one with the keeper.
Congratulations to Walthamstow who march on to the next round of this years Emirates FA Cup.

By Neil Hope.