Obeng assists recovery as the Row share point
DOGGED HARTLEY WINTNEY BREAK MET POLICE SHACKLES
HARTLEY Wintney got themselves out of jail by recovering from a twogoal half-time deficit to share the spoils at Metropolitan Police in Saturday’s Isthmian League South Central game.
It only took the Met five minutes of detective work to figure out how to breach the Hartley defence and open the scoring. Alfie Walters had space on the right and his cross found Rudy Appiah-Allen unmarked in front of the Row goal who scored from 12 yards out.
The Met continued to ask the questions and Ryan Davey set up Appiah-Allen who saw his effort from the edge of the area saved by Adam Melville in the Hartley goal.
On 23 minutes, Mark AmaningAmpong, a former Row defender now plodding the beat in the Met team, had an effort saved by the alert Melville.
On the half-hour mark the Row had their first effort. A free-kick on the right from George Wallace brought out a good save from Liam Beach in the Met goal.
Six minutes later Appiah-Allen managed to escape the custody of the Row defenders and crossed to Mason Galloway who screwed his shot wide from close range.
However, a minute later the home side increased their lead.
A Hartley defender had his pocket picked as he lost possession to Ben Mendoza who ran on and scored for 2-0.
Hartley almost pulled a goal back just before half-time when Conor Lynch and Tayo Oyebola combined well, and the latter saw his effort bring out a good save from Beach.
Just before the interval George Winser for Hartley also had to leave the field with a nasty looking shoulder/arm injuring.
Yet having played like the Keystone
Cops in the first period, the Row looked more like the Flying Squad in the second half.
On 59 minutes Liam Gavin found Mason Obeng with an accurate forward pass. The young midfielder showed excellent skill as he beat his marking defender and crossed to Lynch at the back post who swept the ball home for 2-1.
The Row remained on the case, and on 64 minutes a cross from the left by Andry Demira just eluded some in-rushing Row players.
However, the equaliser arrived just four minutes later when Obeng again showed great skill and his precise cross was headed home by Oyebola at the back post for 2-2.
Hartley had a further opportunity on 80 minutes when Lynch got free down the middle but Beach closed the case with a good stop.
Three minutes from the end the Met almost performed a daylight robbery by snatching a winner.
A free-kick on the right from Mendoza was forced goalwards through a crowd of players and Wallace was forced to clear off the line.
For Hartley, they looked a side lacking in confidence in the first half. However, in the second period when Obeng was moved from the wing to midfield, they looked as though they could unlock any door.
Both Gavin and substitute Harrison Bayley had solid games patrolling in defence.