Great Wakering Rovers made it back-to-back league wins as they beat Woodford Town 3-0 on a wet Saturday afternoon.

A spectacular free kick from Shaun Gittleson gave the Rovers the lead before second half goals by Thomas Barton and Jack Mitchell rounded the day off to seal all three points.

The result sees Rovers move up the league table to thirteenth.

Kickoff:

Rovers made a great start in the early stages of the first half and came flying out of the traps.

It didn’t take long for them to stamp their authority on the game as they took the lead on 8 minutes.

A good move from midfield down the left by Reece Placid combined with Shaun Gittleson sent the forward running on and cut inside. Before he got his shot off, he was fouled on the edge of the box. Gittleson composed himself before superbly curling the ball over the ball into the top left corner.

Rovers enjoyed good spells of possession but unfortunately could rarely threaten the opposition goal after.

The visitors would threaten from set pieces a long balls but Rovers handled them well as they were well organised at the back and George Marsh was rarely troubled in goal.

They had one chance however midway through the half when Ollie Sotoyinbo cut in from the right and saw his curling effort rattle off the cross bar.

Halftime: Rovers 1-0 Woodford Town

The second half was completely different however as Rovers lost control for a period of time as the visitors had numerous chances to equalise.

On 55 minutes, Woodford Town had a golden opportunity when Emmanuel Sergio played the ball into Ollie Sotoyinbo and the forward ran at goal before rounding George Marsh but his shot was blocked off the line by a remarkable last ditch tackle by Thomas Barton.

The alarm bells were ringing as the visitors continued to bombard the Rovers goal.

On the hour mark, Jibran Ahmed was played down the right and shrugged off his marker before cutting to the byline but his close range effort was saved by Marsh at his near post.

Marcus Bowers decided to make changes and they proved pivotal as they doubled their lead soon after.

On 67 minutes, Rovers were awarded a free kick on the right hand side of the box by the corner flag after a good run by Shaun Gittleson and was tripped just by the edge of the box. Gittleson curled the ball into a the near post and Thomas Barton headed the ball down into the bottom corner while outmuscling his marker to give his side breathing space.

It was relief for the home side as they now started to have a firm grip on the game and started to see it out.

With ten minutes to go, Shaun Gittleson had an excellent opportunity to double his tally for the day when Rovers broke on a counter attack.

Joshua Jackson received the ball on the edge of the area and played the ball into the feet of Gittleson. The forward got the ball out of his feet before skipping past his defender and curled a sweet shot destined for the top left corner but Sidi Haidara reacted brilliantly to get across and tip the ball around the post.

From the resulting corner, Kye Jude’s header hit the post and Haidara was once again called into action soon after when Jack Mitchell’s close range effort was saved by the goalkeeper’s feet.

With less than five minutes to go, Rovers all but sealed the three points with their third.

A long ball forward was flicked on by Joshua Jackson and Jack Mitchell ran at goal. Jackson’s run distracted the Woodford Town defenders and Mitchell rifled the ball into the bottom left corner from twenty yards out spectacularly to all but sealed the win.

Before fulltime, Rovers were down to ten men towards the end when Reece Placid disagreed with the referee when there was a mixup in communication on the substitute bench. Placid was sent to the sin bin but Rovers were rarely troubled.

Fulltime: Rovers 3-0 Woodford Town

An excellent result for the Rovers. On another note, it was great to see Dan Walker back to get behind the team and have a post match photo with the squad.

Some photos curtesy of Nicky Hayes