Hayes & Yeading’s winless run came to a halt at the SKYex on Tuesday evening as Mark Molesley’s side netted a 3-2 win against Bracknell Town with two late strikes for the visitor making the lengthy amount of stoppage time nerve-racking for the United faithful. The game itself took a while for the first sight of goal to come as the visitors had lots of early possession but the United defence and midfield held firm enough to not even allow them a look at goal. The first glimmer of a chance came on 15 minutes when skipper Cole Brown broke away up the right side, his low drilled centre flew across the Robins six yard box but nobody was able to get a touch and any danger disappeared. A couple of semi chances for the visitors came in the next ten minutes as firstly Gary Abisogun picked out Ashley Lodge in the centre, his shot across the face of Jacob Adams’ goal flew well wide and a few minutes later Joe Grant tried his luck from 20 yards but his effort was easily held by Adams. We were seconds past the half hour mark when Haydon Vaughan moved from left to right across the edge of the United box before firing over and two minutes later the deadlock was broken at the other end. Ayo Faniyan collected a pass up the left flank, outpaced Anthony Cheshire into the box before crossing to Norman Wabo who set the ball back nicely to Ronan Silva who struck a shot from just outside the box that arrowed into the bottom corner giving Michael Eacott no chance. The final chance of the first period came just three minutes later for the visitors as the ball was neatly clipped over the United defence to Grant who tried to lift the ball over Adams but his effort was wide of the target and with the final ten minutes having nothing to write about the half closed with United a goal to the good. Mark Molesley made a half time change with Tobias Braney replacing Steve Ngunga while the visitors threw Adam Richards into the fray in place of the injured Darryl Harrison. United were quickly on the front foot and with less than three minutes played Omar Rowe played the ball in from the left side to Wabo, his shot on the turn was deflected wide by a well-positioned defender. In the 54th minute United’s lead doubled, Wabo raced onto a throughball in the left channel and moved into the box, going down under challenge from KJ Osu and referee Mayer pointed to the spot. Wabo dusted himself down and coolly fired past Eacott to give United a two-goal advantage. Just coming up to the hour mark a nice passing move by the visitors that saw the ball moved between Grant, Billy Stedman and Abisogun ended with the latter blazing over. Ten minutes later United had a third. Brown sent substitute Michael Fernandes, who had been on for about a minute, down the right flank, he reached the edge of the box and squared the ball to Faniyan who instantly helped it on to Rowe, his driven shot was pushed away by Eacott but Rowe played the rebound back into the middle for Faniyan to poke home past Eacott at full stretch. Not sure if the three goal cushion made United a little too relaxed as the Robins started to push forwards looking more dangerous and with ten minutes remaining Stedman made his way into the box only to be tripped from behind and once again the referee pointed to the spot. Lodge took control from 12 yards and smashed the ball past Adams to reduce the deficit. Three minutes later United were grateful to the woodwork as Stedman’s dipping effort sailed over Adams only to come back off the face of the crossbar before being cleared however the respite didn’t last two minutes as former United men Kameron English and Grant combined to make it 3-2, the former crossing from the right with Grant volleying home from close range. Thankfully United were not going to give away their first league win since October and the visitors were not allowed a further real opening although the hosts could have sealed the deal for good in the eighth minute of added time as Brown got to an Eacott clearance first, his touch sent Braney towards goal but under pressure from the Robins defence he fired into the side netting with referee Mayer bringing the game to it’s conclusion soon after much to the delight of all in red as three points were secured.
Report by Kevin Watts. Photos by Anthony Mills. United Man of the Match: Cole Brown. Print the Teamsheet: Here.