Daniel Double Earns Draw Against Urchins

By Tom Morris 

The Gate made the relatively short trip to Hornchurch for the first Tuesday night fixture of the season and came away with a well-deserved point in and tightly contested fixture against a good Hornchurch side.

Under the Essex sunshine the first few minutes were a cagey affair with the first chance of note falling to the hosts in the 10th minutes where a long ball sat up nicely for a pot shot from 20 yards, but Miles had his post well covered. In the 12th minutes Kadell Daniel appeared to be fouled on the edge of the box but the referee was unmoved despite his protests. In the 20th minute there was a break in play while Jay Porter received some treatment for a late tackle but after a minute with the physio, he was able to return to the action.

In the 23rd minute Joe Wright came charging out of his goal to meet a long ball that Kudus Oyenuga was chasing down, he missed the ball, caught Kudus with a high boot and received a yellow card. The resulting free kick came to nothing but 2 minutes later Oyenuga was fouled again 22 yards from goal and Kadell calmly stepped up and put the free kick into the top corner beyond the keepers reach. 1-0 to The Gate!

In the 32nd minute Daniel released Oyenuga down the inside right channel and he saw his powerful shot saved by Wright when it looked odds on he would score. Hornchurch made us pay scoring the equaliser 3 minutes later when Dickson beat the offside trap and chipped Miles from the edge of the penalty area. 1-1. The final chance of note before half time came in the 43rd minutes when Kadell Daniel broke down the right and lifted his shot over the onrushing goalkeeper only to see his shot cleared off the line. 1-1 at the break.

Jay brought on Giani Ashley in place of Harrison Pont and the versatile Chris Sessegnon moved into midfield for the second half. After a scrappy start Noel Leighton almost scored a worldy in the 52nd minute, bringing down a high free kick, spinning his marker and curling an effort towards the corner of the goal which the keeper managed to save with his fingertips.

Jay made his second change of the evening replacing Jack Richards with Adem Ramadan and the Gate restored their lead in the 72nd minute as Kudus Oyenuga rolled his marker and won another cheap free kick 25 yards from goal which Kadell Daniel curled into the top corner; a carbon copy of his first goal and a second salute to the jubilant Gate fans, 2-1.

Pot shots niggly tackles and surrendered possession followed in the next ten minutes then a long throw in the 83rd minute caused confusion in the Margate penalty area and Lewwis Spence scrambled the ball home for an unlikely equaliser. 2-2. The referee added four minutes of injury time on but neither side was able to find a winning goal and the Gate travelled back to Margate with a point to add to the one we picked up on the opening weekend at home to Brightlingsea Regent.

We are next in action on Saturday 17th August away to Kingstonian.

Subs: Holloway, Ashley, Ramadan, Hatfull, Jeffrey.

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