At the end of an evenly matched contest at Berkeley Fields North Greenford conceded a late goal to Walton & Hersham, enabling the visitors to snatch victory and claim all three points by the narrowest of margins.

The Swans looked the sharper of the two sides during the opening exchanges, threatening the Greenford goal with several dangerous moves in the Blues final third.

However, somewhat against the run of play, it was after such a move had broken down that United were able to mount an incisive counter attack and open the scoring on 12 minutes.

The ball was played out to Sandro Costa on the left. Costa cut inside before placing an accurate strike across Swans keeper Liam Beach into the far corner.

Walton & Hersham levelled the score just six minutes later when an excellent cross from the left was met by striker Matt Rose-Hazel whose well-directed glancing header found the back of the home net giving Blues debutant keeper Cesare Vernazza no chance.

From that point play moved from end to end up to the interval with both teams guilty of conceding possession too cheaply at times, and few further clear-cut scoring opportunities created as a result.

The best of these fell to Greenford in the final five minutes of the half when a cross-C*M-shot from George Moore nearly beat Beach, followed shortly afterwards by a good chance falling to Danny Vincent.

United made a lively start to the second period with right midfielder Anthony O’Connor narrowly missing the target with a shot that skimmed the wrong side of the Swans post on 52 minutes.

Two minutes later Vernazza pulled off a magnificent save following a close range Swans strike and, with twenty minutes to play, Beach did the same to keep out a goal-bound Vincent shot.

With just two minutes of normal time remaining, and with a draw seeming inevitable, United failed to clear their lines and lost possession on the right of the home penalty area. The ball was crossed back into the box and met by Elliott Simpson who produced a fierce drive into the back of the Blues net to win the contest for the visitors.

For United it was an extremely disappointing end to what had been a closely fought, evenly matched game after which a draw would clearly have been a fair result.

NGU Team: Cesare Vernazza, Guy Ansah-Palmer, Nikolas Muller, Nathan Munroe, Jamal Velinor, Anthony Rowlands (captain), Anthony O’Connor (Carl Bower 75), Tre Trowers (Chris Mills 57), George Moore, Daniel Vincent, Sandro Costa (Charlie Conner 88)

Match preview

Match details

Match date

Kickoff

Meet time

Attendance