Late Danylo Winner Sees Blues Overcome Battling Balham

Fleet Town 2 Balham 1. An 88th-minute winner from Danylo Hubynets finally saw us overcome a determined Balham side at the Easy As HGV Stadium on Saturday, maintaining our excellent winning run and four-point advantage at the top of the table.

We started strongly and enjoyed plenty of possession from the opening whistle, with Balham quickly settling into a well-organised defensive shape designed to make life difficult for us.

Much of the early play belonged to The Blues, but despite seeing plenty of the ball and spending long periods inside the visitors’ half, we couldn’t quite find the breakthrough our pressure deserved.

Corners began to come with increasing regularity as we pushed Balham deeper and deeper, and eventually one of them produced the opening goal.

On 39 minutes George Wallace delivered another excellent ball into the area and captain Aaron Burchett rose to meet it, directing a confident header beyond the goalkeeper to put us 1-0 ahead.

There was still time for another major moment before the interval. Almost on the stroke of half-time, Balham centre-forward Ekow Amaquandoh lashed out at Billy Oram after the ball had gone. The referee initially appeared not to have seen the incident but, after consulting his better-placed assistant, produced a straight red card.

We therefore began the second half a goal ahead and facing ten men, and it seemed we had put ourselves in an excellent position to take control of the game.

Balham, however, had other ideas!

Despite being a man down, the visitors refused to give up and stuck rigidly to the defensive shape that had made them difficult to break down throughout the first half. We continued to dominate possession but struggled to make our numerical advantage count against a side defending with real determination.

Then, on 53 minutes and with what was effectively their first meaningful effort on goal, Balham found an equaliser. Finn Haughey was presented with an opportunity and produced a neat finish to make it 1-1 and suddenly give the visitors something significant to protect.

The goal sparked us into action and from that point onwards the pressure on the Balham goal became almost relentless.

We pushed more players forward and created a succession of opportunities, but somehow the ball refused to go in. A combination of determined defending, bad luck and, on occasions, some less than clinical finishing kept the scores level as the clock continued to tick down.

Balham defended deeper and deeper, throwing bodies in the way and doing everything possible to hold on to what would have been a very hard-earned point.

With time running out, it increasingly looked as though they might succeed.

But this Fleet side has shown plenty of character already this season and, with just two minutes of normal time remaining, we finally found the goal we had been searching for.

Alex McAllister delivered a quality cross into the area and Danylo Hubynets climbed highest, directing his header home to finally break Balham’s resistance and spark huge celebrations around the Easy As HGV Stadium.

It had taken until the 88th minute, but our persistence had eventually paid off.

Balham deserve plenty of credit for the way they battled throughout the afternoon, particularly after being reduced to ten men, but once again we found a way to get the job done. Having been frustrated for long periods, the lads kept pushing right until the end and were rewarded with another valuable three points.

The 2-1 victory keeps our fantastic winning run going and, importantly, maintains our four-point lead at the top of the table.

There is no midweek fixture this week, giving the squad a welcome opportunity to recover before we return to the Easy As HGV Stadium next Saturday, when fourth-placed Virginia Water are the visitors for what promises to be another very tough League encounter.

Thanks to Martin Griffiths (words) and Matt Steele & Tracy (photos)