Burnham held by North Greenford United after finally playing league clash

After three postponements, Burnham and North Greenford United finally clashed in the Combined Counties Premier Division North this season, with the sides playing out a 2-2 draw at the 1878 Stadium.

The Blues held a two-goal lead thanks to strikes from Jack Penton and Jabir Laraba. But, in pressing forward for more, they left themselves open at the back and the visitors battled back to snatch a share of the spoils late on.

With five minutes left to play, Morgan Cooper made it 2-1 and substitute Qasim Asad Khan found the back of the net in added time.

As a result, Burnham remain fifth ahead of their trip to Broadfields United this weekend (Saturday, January 28).

Captain Carl Dennison (above) said: “It was a long time coming. We haven’t played each another on three occasions because twice their pitch had been waterlogged and the third time it was frozen. We drew 2-2 which was a bit odd because we had been two goals up with less than 10 minutes to go. I felt we were in control in the second half, in control of the game and the win was going to be ours.

“With the squad we’ve got, we’re very naïve and we always want to go and score more goals. Sometimes you just have to take your time with throw ins, goal kicks, and everything like that. We just needed to wind the clock down.

“Obviously, in my old age now, I have had to change quite a lot in the way I react to things. When I was growing up, there was a lot of digging people out saying ‘it’s your fault for this, that, or the other’. Now, you have to stay very positive because some boys will go into their shell if you shout at them and stuff like that.

“I said to the team afterwards when we were cooling down, it is two points dropped but it’s also another point on the board. We’re still unbeaten in the league at home too.

“For me, their first goal, the referee was at fault because our centre-back tried to head the ball and the attacker was climbing all over him. Anywhere else on the pitch, that would have been a free kick but because it was inside our box, he just let the game play. It’s all very frustrating but we have to stay positive. We’re unbeaten in three now. Hopefully we can carry this run on, on Saturday against Broadfields. Everybody is still staying positive in the Burnham camp which is very good. We want to finish in the top three at least, it’s doable.”