ON Tuesday, Harlow Town travelled to what is likely to be one of our furthest away games of the season, in the Gladwish Challenge Trophy to face Cranfield United, a side from the step below reports Logan Young.

Aside from the football, the clubhouse was nice and had a very unique prospect of having both a Chinese restaurant within the ground, as well as a Kebab van, most non league supporters’ dreams. 

It wasn’t the greatest of showings from the Hawks, but we managed to secure a late comeback in a game where both sides were reduced to ten men and come away with a victory after a flawless penalty shootout. 

Cranfield United started the game on the front foot, looking energetic as Tobin Marshall hit a shot from distance into oblivion. 

Down the other end, Harvey Steel whipped in a good cross which Raheem Gray headed narrowly over the bar. 

On a fast counter-attack, Cranfield nicked an early goal as Cameron Langford finished with panache into the left corner, catching out the Harlow defence. 

James Pellin kept Harlow in the game late in the first-half, making a triple save as Cranfield were all over us. 

The score should have been doubled when Luca Kapadia played a square pass across the box for Cranfield. Raheem Kamara had an open goal in front of him, which he could’ve tapped the ball straight into. Instead, he took a touch and James Pellin recovered excellently to tackle the forward. 

The second half continued in a similar fashion to the first in that it was fairly quiet. This was until Benny Ansah was sent off for Cranfield from what I assume to be dissent. 

Bringing on Stef Georgiou and Josh Gruby changed the game as Harlow suddenly looked more lively and had more possession. 

Both sides became reduced to 10 men after Jesse Ansen was given a second yellow for Harlow Town after a strong challenge. 

By this stage in the game, though, Harlow were on top and looked most likely to score. Teddy Jones whipped in a good cross from the left-hand side which found Stef Georgiou at the back-post, who couldn’t head it on target, with the goal open after Niall Shackleton missed it. 

James Pellin got Harlow out of trouble again after Tom Davison headed at goal from the back-post, from mere yards out but Pellin got a strong hand to tip it over. 

Shackleton made a great save for Cranfield after Denzel Effah headed from close-range. The Cranfield keeper managed to push it out of harm’s way. Effah did get another chance for a header but this time headed straight at Shackleton after being picked out at the back-post by Georgiou. 

In the late stages of the game, Harlow finally found the net after Stef Georgiou beat a few players down the right wing before hitting it towards the back-post, where Raheem Gray made a good run and tapped it home, levelling the game. 

Very little happened for the remainder of the game and so a penalty shootout was in order. 

Stef Georgiou stepped up first, smashing it left. Shackleton got a hand to it but couldn’t prevent the effort. 

Elkington-Soan stepped up for Cranfield, going left and scoring. 

Louis Stead made no mistake of his penalty, going down the middle and scoring. 

Captain Joel Ives saw his penalty saved by James Pellin in the right corner, giving Harlow a lead in the shootout. 

Harvey Steel then placed his penalty in the bottom-left, extending the Harlow lead. 

Baker-Bond clawed back some hope for Cranfield, with a good penalty in the bottom-right. 

Raheem Gray hit a good penalty to keep Harlow on top. 

Reece-Brown had to score for Cranfield and did, down the middle. 

Denzel Effah stepped up to win the shootout for Harlow, smashing it bottom right and securing our place in the next round. 

We thank you for your continued support and hope to see you on Saturday as we face Hullbridge Sports in the FA Vase at home.