City secure hard-fought Urchins point

City returned from East London (or, possibly, Essex) with a hard-earned point following a goalless draw against Hornchurch this afternoon. Chances were at a premium for both sides, although the home side may feel they did enough to win the game, hitting the post in the first half then seeing Harvey Wiles-Richards produce a great stoppage time save.

The Urchins began the game on the front foot, which culminated with Saunders’ 15th minute free-kick striking the inside of the post before rebounding to safety. City were struggling to find any rhythm on the narrow and tricky playing surface, though just before the half-hour mark a Sol Wanjau-Smith cross was diverted toward Latrell Humphrey-Ewers but he could only stab the ball wide of the far post. The half ended with headed chances for both teams, Scott sending his effort just wide then an unmarked Nick Grimes failing to trouble keeper Terry.

Akinwande shot straight at Wiles-Richards early in the second half but this was a rare test for either keeper. Hornchurch failed to hit the target with several further efforts, the best falling to Phillips on 70 minutes, but he lifted the ball over from close range. Four minutes later Luke Russe saw his low shot blocked by a defender, then in the first minute of stoppage time Alex Fisher almost took advantage of a mix-up in the host’s defence but Terry managed to smother his shot. Kashket’s great run after this ended with his shot flying narrowly wide before Nash finally got an effort on target, only for Wiles-Richards to turn it behind at full-stretch and ensure the points were shared.