Travelling fans celebrate as Bowers and Brentwood emerge victorious

In the end, our four play off qualifiers in Pitching In Isthmian North were separated by only two points, so trying to pick a winner prior to kick off looked to be rather difficult. Our hosts, Bury Town and Felixstowe and Walton United, had fine home records- but their opponents, Brentwood Town and Bowers and Pitsea, had lost fewer games on the road than in their own stadiums. We expected the matches to be close, and full of drama- and we were right.

Bury Town had been in fine form, coming into the match after a run which had seen only one defeat from twenty five matches, whilst their visitors, Brentwood Town had the best defensive record in the Division. The first half ended goalless, but that really didn’t tell the story, with chances at both ends but the hosts perhaps feeling the hardest done by, one particular attack seeing two saves from Melvin Minter and the ball striking the post and the bar- all within around twenty seconds! At the other end Jonathan Nzengo, George Sykes and Andy Freeman had chances for the visitors, and nobody could quite understand how neither side had scored!

The second half was rather less frantic, but again, neither side could break the deadlock. Off to extra time we went-and suddenly, we had goals! After five minutes Mekhi McKenzie broke the deadlock for the visitors, set up by Freeman, but on one hundred minutes the hosts levelled, a deflected shot from Ryan Jolland delighting most of the one thousand, one hundred and twenty two watching on. They were less delighted ten minutes later, as Daniel Ogunleye curled home a beauty to restore the visitors advantage.

Extra time came with added time, and rather a lot of it- and right at the end of it the visitors added a third, Shad Ngandu ensuring a second Play Off Final in three years for the Blues.

Felixstowe & Walton United and Bowers & Pitsea met at the AGL Arena having both triumphed in their home fixtures against each other during the regular season. Perhaps that made the Seasiders favourites, but it was the visitors who broke the deadlock on eighteen minutes, TQ Addy scoring his tenth goal of the season at just the right time, an effort from distance finding the bottom corner of Josh Blunkell’s net. The visitors looked to be taking a lead into the half time break, but two minutes into added time the hosts drew level, Josh Mayhew first to a loose ball and firing home.

The second half brought chances at both ends but no further goals until twelve minutes from time, when the visitors got their noses in front once more, Benas Vaivada the scorer, getting on the end of a through ball from Olly Sotoyinbo. Once again, however, it was a lead they couldn’t hold, and once again the equaliser arrived in added time, Josh Hitter finding the bottom corner to send the match into extra time.

The additional thirty minutes brought no further goals, so we were off to the unfortunate lottery of a penalty shoot out. After the first three penalties were scored, David Hughes saved the Seasiders second, but immediately Josh Blunkell pulled off a save for the hosts to restore their hope. Hughes, however, wasn’t having that and saved the next United penalty too, and Bowers held their nerve to win four-two. Image from Nicky Hayes.

The Final will take place on Saturday afternoon at The Len Salmon. Bowers will be looking for an immediate return to our top flight, whilst Town will be looking to consign the memory of their shoot out defeat against Canvey two years ago to history.

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