FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round

Harlow Town 2 v 1 Saffron Walden Town

SWIFTLY following on from Saturday’s 0-0 draw with Saffron Walden, and with little time to prepare, an Extra Preliminary Round Replay was on the cards; this time at the Harlow Arena and with 501 supporters in attendance, it was set to be an absolute cracker.

Danny Chapman made one change ahead of the fixture, with Arley Barker coming out of the squad and Fabion Simms coming into it, playing alongside James Love in a central midfield pivot.

From the very first whistle, Harlow’s attacking intent was clear, as Denzel Effah picked out Callum Ibe in the box, who headed just over the bar early on. Minutes later, Harlow did find the lead after Stef Georgiou crossed it into the box and Ibe got his head on it, beating Coton and giving Harlow an early lead, breaking the deadlock 99 minutes into the overall tie.

Harlow continued to get men forward and Jack Cousins had a few half chances, the second of which he headed slightly wide of Coton’s goal.

Saffron Walden then had some efforts for themselves as Kaleel Green skied it from distance, and Bobby Williams forced a top save out of James Pellin, shooting from the near-post as the Harlow keeper tipped it round the post. In the same attack, Sam Deering found an opening and had a crack on his left foot but failed to find the target.

For the next ten minutes or-so, the game was fairly end-to-end in terms of chances created, with Harlow well on top in possession. Things went from bad to worse for the Bloods though when George Coton’s pass out from the back was intercepted by James Love, who pressed excellently, proceeding to take it round Coton and square it across the 6-yard box where Stef Georgiou waited at the back-post, tapping it home and doubling the Harlow Town lead.

At half-time, Harlow deservedly held a 2-0 advantage, having played some fluid and high-tempo football, and being a clear better side throughout.

The Hawks continued this strong play into the second half, with a fast counter-attack ending with Stef Georgiou one-on-one with Coton, but hitting it straight at the Saffron Walden keeper.

However, the away side begun to get their feet into the game a little more and had some decent spells in possession. One of these spells led to Deering putting a low ball into the box, which James Pellin palmed towards Kaleel Green, who tapped home to bring Saffron Walden back into the game.

The game continued in an end-to-end fashion, with both sides missing a few small chances, before Coton produced a substantial save from Louis Stead’s header, getting fingertips on it to push it wide. James Pellin continued the trend of great saves with an incredible top-right save from Jack Clark’s shot.

The game petered out with Harlow’s defence doing well to hold off Saffron Walden pressure, and Denzel Effah coming incredibly close to finding a third goal for Harlow in the dying moments of the game. The winger ran through two players but Coton made a great save, tipping the ball away and keeping the score down to one.

Celebrations broke out at the full-time whistle with the Hawks progressing into the FA Cup Preliminary Round which they will face Woodford Town in next at home.

We thank you for your superb support recently, an attendance of 501 is fantastic and we hope to see you bringing this to Saturday’s game in which we host Dunstable Town, kicking off at 3pm.