Bishop’s Stortford 3-4 Quorn Match Report

Bishop’s Stortford 3-4 Quorn Match Report

1/11/25

Pitching In Southern League Premier Central Division

Hamish Arnold

Kai Fifield came off the bench and scored twice as Quorn won a seven-goal thriller 3-4 at Woodside Park against Bishop’s Stortford on Saturday. The Blues had led three times in the match but were denied any points with substitute Fifield’s 90th minute winner. The result leaves Stortford 11th in the Pitching In Southern League Premier Central Division Table, but could move up to seventh if the three points from the abandoned Stratford Town match are reinstated.

A deep free kick from the left side was missed by Nahum Melvin-Lambert in the Stortford box and it fell to Mason Frizelle in space, but Adam Hayton made the save at close range to deny an opening goal. Hayton then parried a low cross from the left wing to Billy Kee who slid in to poke the ball home but Blues captain Jake Thompson made a sliding block to force a corner. Cain Noble volleyed at goal from a right wing cross but Hayton saved, before Zak Goodson received a right wing through ball and fired low across goal, but he narrowly missed the bottom left corner. After numerous chances for the visitors, it was the Hertfordshire side who took the lead when Obi Onyeagwara dribbled into the box from the left wing and laid the ball off for Fabio Virciglio to shoot first time, through a crowded box the ball went under the diving body of an unsighted Tom Allsopp in the Quorn goal to break the deadlock on the quarter-hour mark. A short corner routine by Quorn led to Goodson having a low shot from the right side of the box but Hayton saved and Reece Fyfe’s shot from the edge of the box was also directly at the Blues ‘keeper. Captain Fyfe then volleyed high over the cross bar from a right wing cut back before the equaliser from left back Deen Master, who picked out the near post from the left side of the crowded penalty area with a powerful strike. On the counter attack Onyeagwara switched the play from the left wing to Cole Dasilva , he fizzed a low cross into the box but Melvin-Lambert couldn’t reach it for a tap-in. Player-manager Ryan Beswick fired over the bar from Goodon’s low cross from the right, before a Stortford corner wasn’t cleared and saw the two central defenders combine to restore the lead, with Charlie Johnson crossing to Thompson to head home from close range. Noble latched onto a lofted pass beyond the defence – who were waiting for an offside flag – and Hayton saved the low shot with his legs. Melvin-Lambert’s header was flicked to Virciglio who picked out Dasilva with a through ball, he worked some space for a left footed shot but Melvin-Lambert – returning from an offside position – tried to shoot and was flagged before Dasilva shot wide of the goal.

HT 2-1

Thompson rose to meet Dasilva’s free kick from the right which nearly curled all the way in, but Allsopp punched clear before Kee’s glancing header from a right wing cross went wide at the other end. Substitute Saleem Akanbi played a one-two with Melvin-Lambert, but he had strayed offside before he received the return pass on the left side of the box. Fifield then entered the match and scored with his first touch, converting from close range from a low cross from the right to equalise for the second time in the match for the Leicestershire outfit. A right wing cross was headed goalwards at the far post by Virciglio, Akanbi received the ball with his back to goal, the shot on the turn was parried by Allsopp and Dasilva was offside as he collected the rebound. Hayton saves Noble’s tooe-poke from a knock-down header from a cross, before Noble volleyed straight at Hayton after Declan Phillips only half-cleared the left wing cross. Luke Cox headed wide from a right wing free kick, before Melvin-Lambert thought he had scored, but referee Michael Robertson-Tant blew for a foul as the forward had pushed the defender as he jumped to head in the right wing cross. Phillips won the ball back in midfield and dribbled forward towards the box, he passed to Akanbi via a deflection through a defender’s legs and calmly slotted into the bottom left corner. Melvin-Lambert forced Allsopp into a fine low save but he was offside from the cross. From a Blues corner, Quorn left four players on the halfway line and the counter attack worked as Fifield crossed from the left and Johnson shinned the ball into his own net from close range – his second own goal in four games. Melvin-Lambert, Virciglio and Phillips all had shots from close range from Johnson’s cross, with the latter firing over the crossbar after a pair of defensive blocks. Fifield dribbled into the middle from the left wing, found some space and shot into the bottom left corner from the edge of the box. Leon Davies nearly netted a remarkable equaliser with a deep cross from the left, it had Allsopp beaten and came off the underside of the crossbar, and from close range Melvin-Lambert headed over the bar.

FT 3-4

TEAMS

Bishop’s Stortford XI

1 Adam Hayton

2 Tommy Lethbridge (Haines 73’)

3 Leon Davies

4 Cole Dasilva

5 Jake Thompson (c) (Goal 42’)

8 Declan Phillips (Assist 79’)

9 Nahum Melvin-Lambert

11 Obi Onyeagwara (Assist 15’) (Yellow card 42’) (Akanbi 59’)

12 Fabio Virciglio (Goal 15’)

14 Jack Smith (Yellow card 75’)

22 Charlie Johnson (Assist 42’) (Own goal 86’)

Subs

6 Mark Haines

15 Rehan Field

16 Harry Forde

17 Marley St Louis

19 Saleem Akanbi (Goal 79’) (Yellow card 83’)

Quorn XI

1 Tom Allsopp (Yellow card 90+3’)

2 Silvio Bello

3 Deen Master (Goal 28’) (Cobourne 83’)

4 Luke Cox (Tetlow 86’)

5 Mason Frizelle

6 Reece Fyfe (c)

7 Zak Goodson

8 Ryan Beswick (Fifield 66’)

9 Billy Kee (Onabirekhanlen 90+2’)

10 Cain Noble (Burgess 90+2’)

11 Finn O’Boyle

Subs

12 Zhani Burgess

14 Kai Fifield (Goal 67’ 90’)

15 Jasper Tetlow

16 Simeon Cobourne

17 Marvellous Onabirekhanlen

Attendance 441