STANWAY Rovers joint-manager Jamie Shaw believes his side are now one of the strongest in the Essex Senior League after they overcame Buckhurst Hill 3-1 at The Hawthorns, writes BEN MCCARTHY.
Rovers snatched the lead on the cusp of half-time after their captain, Reece Conway, found space on left-hand side of Buckhurst Hill’s penalty area and picked out George Okoye, who drilled the ball into the net, from six yards out.
The hosts then doubled their lead merely ten minutes into the second half as loanee Jose Santa De La Paz dispossessed the Buckhurst defence deep into their half, before fiercely striking the ball beyond Alfie Reed’s grasp, into the visitors’ net.
Buckhurst Hill gave themselves hope with 15 minutes of normal time remaining when Chandler Wray neatly linked up with Jaedon Phillips down the right-hand side before his deflected effort, from just outside the box, trickled past Callum Robinson.
But in a blink, the hosts’ two-goal cushion was restored after a masterfully-worked goal.
Joe Debell, from just inside of his attacking half, glanced the ball across to the left-hand side of the Buckhurst Hill penalty area, which was met by the hovering Tom Maycock, who rounded Reed, enroute to completing a stunning goal.
Despite holding a slender lead at the break, Shaw said that he challenged his side to ‘take the game’ to Buckhurst Hill, a call that was inarguably met by his players.
He said: “I was a little bit disappointed at half-time. I think some of these boys, they’re really good football players and they need to keep their standards high and the message at half-time was to up their game, play with a higher intensity, speed things up, and as the home team, take the game to the away side.”
Stanway remain 12th in the table after their win but Shaw, who joined as joint manager back in October, claimed that Rovers are now ‘one of the strongest sides’ in the division.
He said: “Every game we want to win. We put a side together that is in my opinion, one of the strongest sides now in the league.
“In terms of when we took over at the club, it means that it’s very difficult now for us to really have promotion targets in our mind, which actually makes the job a little bit tougher on a matchday, because realistically the level of side that we’ve got should be looking to push for promotion.”
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