Haringey Borough under 16s today made it 5 wins out of 5 in the Harrow Youth League, and 6 out of 6 in all competitions. Goals from Smee, Christodoulou, Wickham and Bonket secured an important win and elevated Haringey back to the top of the table.
More to follow shortly...
Full Match Report
Haringey Borough U16's continued their assault on the Harrow Youth League Division 1 on Sunday as they cruised to victory against a mediocre South Ruislip side that will consider themselves lucky not have lost by a far bigger margin.
Boro started the game well and had the ball in the net within 10mins through Harley Smee. However the goal did not stand as play had been stopped just before as the South Ruislip 'keeper was down injured with a knock on the chest.
Injured Goalies seemed like it was going to be the theme of the day as a few minutes later Boro 'keeper Amit Gaglani went down injured and in a lot of pain from a challenge on the edge of the area as he bravely raced out to smother a South Ruislip attack.
Play restarted after a prolonged stoppage and soon after, on 13 minutes Haringey were in the lead through Harley Smee. Haringey's joint top scorer did well to finish off a good passing move, hitting a firm shot low into the corner from inside the box.
5 minutes from hell then ensued for South Ruislip as Haringey went 2 then 3 up with excellent finishes from Stelio Christodoulou and Riccardo Wickham as Boro's quick passing and movement was proving far to difficult for South Ruislip to contain.
Pressure from Haringey continued and the electrifying Harley Smee thought he had another when his shot hit the underside of the bar and bounced out off the goal-line.
Unfortunately, the first half was marred by controversy as Haringey scored what looked like a brilliant goal from skipper Lawrence Hayes only to have the Linesman rule it out as he was certain the ball had gone out of play. Lawrence Hayes thought otherwise.
South Ruislip managed to pull one back late into stoppage time in the first half with a scrappy goal after a period of pressure from the visitors.
The standard dropped in the second half as the game turned a little bit sour. Haringey's excellent defensive display inspired by an outstanding performance from Chinua Phinn-Archer helped preserve the healthy lead. An excellent debut for new signing Luke Williams-Dinning came to an end on 60 mins as he came off for Jack Vickerstaff. Silvestre Espana and Harley Smee were also replaced by Mansur Sa'adu and Hassan Sheikh towards the later stages of the game. Haringey missed several chances but a composed finish from Boris Bonket on 74mins finally put the game beyond doubt for Haringey.
Team: 1) Amit Gaglani, 2) Stelio Christodoulou, 3) Stefano Fontanini, 4) Silvestre Espana (Hassan Sheikh 75th), 5) Boris Bonket, 6) Chinua Phinn-Archer, 7) Gustavo Angel, 8) Harley Smee (Mansur Sa'adu 75th), 9) Riccardo Wickham, 10) Lawrence Hayes (c), 11) Luke Williams-Dinning (Jack Vickerstaff 60th). Subs not used: 16) Noel Harris-Brown, (17) Joe Ryle.
Man of the Match: Chinua Phinn-Archer
Goals: Smee, Christodoulou, Wickham, Bonket.
Final Score: Haringey Borough 4 - 1 South Ruislip Rangers.
(Match report by Ben Corbyn)