Coming into this game, Erith Town sat towards the top of the table whereas Punjab United were in the bottom half. Punjab have only picked up one home win this season, so it was essential that they picked up points today against a very good Erith side.

The game started off with a few fouls here and there with free kicks coming from Erith but not troubling Punjab United goalkeeper Max Ovenden.

However, in the 8th minute a ball was sent in by Dominic Vincent which the Erith defender cleared away, but Punjab United winger, William Johnson-Cole got the ball on the wing and sent in a cross which was looking menacing and Punjab’s striker Paul Vines, with a scissor-kick, fired it home to give the hosts the lead.

In fairness to Erith, they were playing well, but paid for missing some good chances, when a cross in from Dominic Vincent missed the head of Jordan Campbell but reached Paul Vines, who on the volley fired home to give Punjab a 2-0 advantage.

Erith Town had a mountain to climb, and they eventually got their deserved first goal of the game in the 22nd minute, after a ball was whipped into the box which Steadman Callender headed home – a free header which Max almost got a hand to. Erith were right back in it and soon after that, they fired more shots in, but they were all dragged wide.

Punjab did have a few chances of their own including a chip attempt by Rohan Badbhagi which went over the bar.

In the 33rd minute a lovely ball was played through on goal and aftergood link-up play by two Erith forwards Steadman Callender fired a shot home to make it 2-2.

Not too much else happened in the rest of the first half.

For the rest of the half both teams produced a counter-attacks but just the key pass wasn’t there so we went into the break at 2-2. A good first 15 minutes for Punjab United but Erith Town came back strong and were the better side overall.

‘The Dockers’ continued to play well in the second half, put pressure on Punjab’s defence and at some point soon you just knew they were going to have a good chance to score, and they did.

A free kick was put into the box, headed away out to the wing, crossed into the box, cleared again, but then whipped in to Fred Obasa, who headered it home to make it 3-2 to Erith Town in the 56th minute.

Erith continued to attack the Punjab defence with corners and crosses coming in but Max Ovenden defending them well.

However the visitors pressure soon paid off. A free kick was whipped into the box and a free header from Ryan Mahal was fired home to make it 4-2 in the 63rd minute.

Now Punjab United had a mountain to climb but they still tried to get back into the game.

There was a great pass from Dominic Vincent to Chandler Kasai, who tried to beat the defender but was taken down – Penalty to Punjab United!

William Johnson-Cole stepped up for the hosts, and although the keeper guessed the right way, Will slotted it home to make it 4-3 with 20 minutes to play. Maybe there would be a late turnaround on the cards here.

Punjab United were looking the better team after they scored and were pushing for an equaliser.

Will Johnson-Cole played Harry Main through on goal, but he just couldn’t finish it and that could be a chance that could have given us a crucial point.

There was another chance as Chandler Kasai played Will through on goal, but the Erith keeper, Jack Moore, tipped it over the bar for a corner.

From that corner it was headed away, but Chandler picked the ball up inside the box and fired a shot which hit the Moore’s legs and went for another corner which was eventually cleared away.

There was to be one more chance for Punjab as Dominic Vincent made a fantastic run into the box and fired a shot which went agonizingly wide.

It did get quite feisty towards the end of the game as altercations were occurring and yellow cards given to players of both teams. And that ugliness brought the game to an end.

A seven-goal thriller and a good win for Erith Town. Punjab could have got a point today, but Erith worked hard and earned their result.

My MOTM for both teams has to be Paul Vines for Punjab with recognition to Dominic Vincent for an excellent defensive display and for Erith it had to be the player who scored two goals today, Steadman Callender.

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