Bishop’s Stortford 0-3 Harborough Town Match Report

March 11, 2026

190

10/3/26

Pitching In Southern League Premier Central Division

Hamish Arnold

Aaron Greene returned to the squad for the first time since October for Bishop’s Stortford as Harborough Town defeated the Blues 0-3 on Tuesday night at Woodside Park. The visiting Bees went top of the Pitching In Southern League Premier Central Division table by two points, with two games in hand on Spalding United in second. Stortford remain 14th in the table with eight games to go, 10 points clear of the relegation zone.

The Leicestershire side took the lead inside seven minutes when a long through from the right was flicked on at the near post to Danny Newton who finished from close range. Ben Stephens’ low shot from the right side of the box from a through ball was saved by the returning Adam Hayton, before Stephens cut in off the left and curled a right footed shot wide of the far post. Robert Morgan beat the offside trap and raced through on goal and slotted home in the bottom left corner from a central position to double the lead. After squandering two earlier chances, Stephens made no mistake from a free kick on the corner of the box, he curled the ball around the wall into the far side netting despite Hayton getting a hand on the ball. The midfielder was celebrating a brace two minutes later before his goal was disallowed for offside – a free kick from a wide position was taken low to the middle of the box where Stephens finished first time through a crowd, but after consultation with his assistant, referee Alfie Finch-Critchley chalked the goal off for a deflection by a player in an offside position.

HT 0-3

Stortford made a strong start to the second half but couldn’t get a goal to reduce the deficit and force a way back into the game. Greene managed to make contact with a Cole Dasilva cross from the right but Taylor pushed the ball round the post for a corner, from which Dasilva swung the ball into the six yard box where Blues fans and players thought it struck the arm of a Harborough player. Amid the protests, Obi Onyeagwara kept the chance alive with a header back into the box and Dempsy Crace saw his shot saved. Brad Russell’s low shot from the edge of the box was going towards the bottom right corner but a deflection took it the opposite side, and Elliott Taylor scrambled across his goal to save. Crace sliced a shot late on and Taylor made the save at head height.

TEAMS

Bishop’s Stortford XI

1 Adam HAYTON

2 Dempsy CRACE

3 Leon DAVIES

4 Cole DASILVA

5 Jake THOMPSON (c) (Yellow card 35’)

6 Mark HAINES (Smith 46’)

10 Brad RUSSELL (Kreka 76’)

11 Obi ONYEAGWARA (Castle 78’)

18 Erin AMU (Virciglio 66’)

19 Aaron GREENE (Norris 66’)

22 Charlie JOHNSON

Subs

7 Charlie CASTLE

9 Frank NORRIS

12 Fabio VIRCIGLIO

14 Jack SMITH

15 Deivi KREKA

Harborough Town XI

1 Elliott TAYLOR

2 George CARLINE

3 Joshua WALSH

4 Liam DOLMAN (c)

5 Robert MORGAN (Goal 30’)

6 Rory McAULEY

7 Devon KELLY-EVANS (Hickey 76’)

8 Adil NABI (Williams 84’)

9 Danny NEWTON (Goal 7’)

10 Ben STEPHENS (Goal 37’) (Malone 78’)

11 Terell PENNANT (Shamalo 70’)

Subs

12 Brady HICKEY

14 Paul MALONE

15 John SHAMALO

16 Alexander MORRIS

17 Ben WILLIAMS

Attendance 228