Stansfeld 0-4 Harrow Borough - I really hope my boys can learn from today, says Stansfeld manager Billy Shinners

Stansfeld 0 – 4 Harrow Borough
Location	Badgers Sports Ground, Middle Park Avenue, Eltham, London SE9 5HT
Kickoff	03/08/2025 13:00

STANSFELD  0-4  HARROW BOROUGH
The Emirates FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round
Sunday 3 August 2025
Stephen McCartney reports from Middle Park Avenue

STANSFELD manager Billy Shinners says Harrow Borough were the best side that he has faced in three years of management after the club suffered its record FA Cup defeat.

Wayne Carter’s Isthmian League South Central side booked a lucrative Preliminary Round trip to Hastings United in 13 days’ time, courtesy of a 23 minute hat-trick from debutant striker Gareth Chendlik.

Harrow Borough notched their fourth goal through substitute striker Leonard Farhali with six minutes remaining but Carter’s men were just too good for a Stansfeld side in fifteenth-place in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division table after their opening day 2-1 home defeat to Snodland Town eight days ago.

“We just played against a very good side.  In the three years I’ve been manager, they’re probably the best side that we’ve played against really.  They won the game in 23 minutes. The game’s gone really, 3-0,” admitted Shinners.

“They had a lot of experience.  You could tell from the sidelines they’re a very experienced side, hence why it was gone after 23 minutes.

“Naturally, you could see within two minutes they’re class.  We’ve still got a young team but there’s an element of that. It’s not becoming an excuse no more because a lot of the boys, although they’re young, they’ve played 50, 60, 70 games in Step Five football now.

“But I will say we are a young side and today they can learn from that. Looking at everything on and off the pitch, I really hope my boys and that’s what I’ve just said to them after the game, they can learn from today.”

Harrow Borough got off to a dream start, kicking down the slope and opening the floodgates after only 106 seconds at Middle Park Avenue.

Winger Will Bailey drove forward, easily skipped past holding midfielder Harrison English before feeding right-back Olumide Akinode on an over-lapping run, as Stansfeld left-back Harvey Mead was nowhere to be seen.

Akinode put the ball on a plate for unmarked striker Chendlik, who tapped the ball into the bottom left-hand corner at the far post, to make it a dream start since his summer move from Harefield United.

“I’m trying not to say, keep going on how good they were. It was just not good quality, it was how hard they worked as a team,” said Shinners.

“The only individual player I can think of was that number eight (Hutchinson). He was real class in the centre of the pitch for them.”

When asked about conceding so early, Shinners admitted, “It’s frustrating because at that point you don’t really see how good they are. It’s two minutes in. It’s frustrating because especially this early on in the season, we’ve worked very, very hard during pre-season and to go just go 1-0 down after two minutes, yes it’s frustrating because obviously we had a plan, a game plan and if you’re 1-0 down straight away, naturally when you’re playing against higher opposition, you do want to kind of stay in the game but 1-0 down you’re chasing it from the second minute.”

Stansfeld had their chances too.  Striker Christopher Alhassan lacked composure inside the box and swept a weak shot which rolled into the gloves of visiting goalkeeper Tom Clark (3:59), before left-winger Dario Sesay-De Luca played the ball in from the left and English scuffed his shot, which was gobbled up by Clark, smothering the ball low to his left, just 54 seconds later.

“Throughout the day, we’ve had five or six shots and their keeper brought off a brilliant save from Ollie but generally like I don’t think the keeper, apart from that one from Ollie, all the others are just not cut throat enough.  Our chances weren’t clinical and hitting corners hard.

“You could see their purpose every time the ball went wide, they had four or five players in the box. Every time they shot, they shot with a purpose. Every time we went wide there were only one or two people in the box.  Every time we shot we just weren’t clinical enough really, in my opinion.”

Harrow Borough were guilty of a bad miss when central midfielder Jack Hutchinson drove down the hill before releasing winger Nawaf Miller in behind Stansfeld centre-half Jamie Thuiller before putting the chance on a plate for Chendlik, who swept his left-footed shot on the turn across goalkeeper Cemal Osman and past the foot of the far post.

However, Harrow Borough recovered from that set-back by doubling their lead with 17 minutes and 5 seconds, after Mead switched off from a long throw.

Centre-half Harry Gallagher hurled the ball down the line to release Bailey charging down the right channel, before Miller put the ball into the box and Chendlik took a touch before emphatically drilling his right-footed shot into the far corner from eight-yards.

“Even from a throw-in, they knew exactly what they were doing and we just didn’t deal with them,” admitted Shinners.

“Frustrating but sometimes you’ve got to look at it. I can’t throw my arms in the air and sulk because the reality is they’re a very good Step Four side.

“There were times in the game when we got the ball, which I wouldn’t say they outplayed us in terms of possession, they just out-powered us I think.

“Last week was more disappointing than this week, I’ve got to say that and last week we lost (2-1 at home to Snodland Town in our league).”

Harrow Borough’s attacking midfielder Prince Mbenghi was penalised by referee Alex Gordon for bringing down Alhassan and Adam Wallis whipped his right-footed free-kick past the near-post from 25-yards.

Harrow Borough’s attackers proved why they are playing in the ninth-tier as it seemed Osman was beaten every time Chendlik had a pop at goal.

Harrow Borough’s left-back Luke Brophy split the two centre-halves (Muhammad Buhari and Thuiller) and last defender Mead came across to stop Hutchinson in his tracks but kicked the ball straight at Chendlik, who swept his right-footed shot past the hapless Stansfeld goalkeeper from 12-yards.

“He’s a very good centre forward and captain. You can see he’ll score a load of goals over the time. You can tell straight away,” said Shinners, a prolific striker himself.

“I can only think of three chances he’s had and all three of them have gone in the back of the net really.  Generally, you might correct me, there might be another chance but generally it seemed like he was very clinical and very experienced, the way he’s carried himself you could see he’s been around and played a lot of games and scored a lot of goals.”

Stansfeld started to have a go after the half-hour mark and Wallis cracked a deflected left-footed drive sailing over the crossbar from 25-yards, before Clark pulled off a great save to frustrate Stansfeld following their second of six corners on the half-hour mark.

Wallis swung the ball in from the left, the ball was cleared away by Harrow Borough’s right-back Akinode and holding midfielder Oliver Andrews cracked a rasping right-footed drive towards the top far corner from 25-yards, only for Clark to fingertip the ball crashing against the crossbar.

“That was a very, very good save! I don’t think Ollie has ever hit the ball that nicely before but it was a very, very good save and yet if that had gone in, you never know really but generally they deserved the win,” said Shinners.

Jack Calvert and Sesay-De Luca both linked up before Alhassan smacked a right-footed drive over the crossbar from 20-yards, as Stansfeld kept plugging away.

Gallagher was penalised for fouling Stansfeld skipper Andrews and Clark lined up a five-man wall for Sesay-De Luca’s 30-yard free-kick, which flashed through the wall and was comfortably gathered by the visiting goalkeeper down on his knees.

“We’ve had shots but I think we had three free-kicks in and around the box but none of them really tested the goalkeeper,” admitted Shinners.

“I think they were all quite comfortable, even with the corners we had quite a few corners (six) as well. We didn’t really take advantage of that.

“I just said keep going. I acknowledged that we’re paying against a very good team. The boys know me well enough, I can lose my temper quite easily. I didn’t feel like the time to lose my temper, sometimes you’ve got to appreciate they’re a very good side and show me what we’re about. Show me how good you are because every single one of my players in my changing room, they’ll tell me they want to play Step Four level and that’s the level they want to get to and that was my intensity of my half-time team-talk.  Show me what you can do, keep going and keep playing with a purpose and you never know what can happen.”

Osman made a morale-boosting plucked catch just 10 seconds into the second half, catching a clearance at head-height as Harrow Borough’s centre-half Gallagher cleared his lines from inside his own half.

Stansfeld’s players came out with plenty more desire in the second half, as Harrow Borough’s players took their foot of the gas after the half-hour mark.

Shinners was pleased with the reaction from his players after the break.

“And good character for that. I think that is shown now in my third season as a manager. Even now, I’ve got 80 per cent of the players last year and the consistency of that and I’ve building a good team of good characters and that’s the most important thing that any manager would say is having good lads who can just keep going and that’s essentially what I think they have done.”

Harrow Borough’s left-back Brophy swung in a corner from the right with his left-foot and centre-half Harry Nevins came up from the back to loop his header just over the crossbar at the back post in the eighth minute.

Alhassan fed Sesay-De Luca, who lacked composure inside the box and drilled his low shot past the near post.

Thuiller put in a vastly improved second half performance at the heart of Stansfeld’s defence after the interval and he fed the ball into Wallis, who played a one-two with Alhassan before drilling a first-time right-footed angled drive across the keeper and past the far post from 25-yards in the 58^th minute.

Calvert cut the ball onto his right-foot and cracked a drive, which deflected off Mgenghi and flew across the diving keeper and past the far post.

“All three chances have not really hit the target have we and that’s the difference.  Every chance they had, it’s hit targets, hit the right areas. Every chance we had we just didn’t hit the target. Again, maybe the better levels there,” said Shinners.

Clark dived low to his left and juggled the ball on the goal-line as he managed to save Sesay-De Luca’s left-footed drive, which was heading towards the bottom far corner from 18-yards as the game entered the final 20 minutes.

Brophy threw the ball into substitute winger Kristian Swaby, who cut inside and cracked a right-footed angled drive across the keeper and past the far post from 25-yards.

Bailey’s flick on was latched on by Swaby who was played in through on goal but Osman made a fine save, diving low to his left at his near-post to prevent the ball nestling inside the bottom right-hand corner in the 75^th minute.

Shinners refused to throw his goalkeeper under the bus for the club’s heaviest FA Cup defeat.

“He’s come in and that’s his second game for us and he is a very good keeper.  None of the goals today was his fault and he’s making some good saves, really promising.

“On paper it don’t look good, of course it doesn’t but there’s no complaints. I think he’s settled in well. He’s done really well, the goalkeeper.”

Sesay-De Luca swept his shot across the keeper, who dived to his left to save at the second attempt, as Stansfeld continued to create goalscoring chances against a club one level higher up in the food chain.

Mead went on a lung busting run down the left before he was taken out by Akinode and substitute Billy Marsh’s right-footed free-kick from 22-yards forced Clark to dive to his left and use two-hands to push the ball towards safety.

“I can’t fault the lads really. We had a chance. We kept going and we created chances,” said Shinners.

“Four-nil, you can look at that and on paper it’s very disappointing but the reality is it was just their class in front of goal.

“We kept the ball well. We created chances and we just kept going so fair play to them. The reality is it was just their class.”

Thuiller put in a vastly improved second half performance at the heart of Stansfeld’s defence after struggling inside the opening 23 minutes.

“I’ve been looking for a central defender like Jamie since I’ve taken over the job. I’ve been after him for quite a while. He just brings a lot of calmness to the team, especially games like today, like losing 3-0.

“In the second half he kept the boys around him calm because you never know. A young team may completely drop off and it can become quite silly but Jamie came in exactly what we wanted. He fits in really well with the boys. He’s a player I feel like we’ve been missing since I’ve taken over the job.”

Harrow Borough did score their fourth goal with 38 minutes and 35 seconds on the clock, however.

Swaby cut in from the right channel into the box and put it on a plate for Farhali, who placed his first time right-footed shot past Osman from inside the six-yard box.

Shinners said: “They were just relentless really, relentless.  Three-up, sometimes teams drop off, they didn’t. They just kept going and 84^th minute to go and get a fourth.  Some teams just drop off. They’ve won the game at 3-0 but their team just kept going and going and it’s a credit to them.”

Mbenghi burst into life towards the end, hitting a right-footed rasping drive towards goal from 20-yards, which was comfortably caught at head height by Osman, after subs Maxwell Holland and Swaby broke away.

Harrow Borough created a stoppage time chance when substitute David Taylor played a through ball from the half-way line to put Farhali through on goal but he lacked composure and sent his right-footed effort over the crossbar when he only had Osman to beat.

Shinners takes his side to Park View Road next Saturday, with Erith & Belvedere smarting from yesterday’s 5-0 FA Cup defeat in Jersey.

Jamie Phipps and Billy Hamlin’s side opened their league campaign in eighth-place following their 1-1 draw at Larkfield & New Hythe on day one.

“It’s only game two but we need a win as soon as possible. You know yourself, as soon as you can that win you can really kick on. We want to go there and get a result, get the win,” said Shinners.

“We’re 80 per cent of players are here from last year. I think at the end of last season we done well (finishing fifth-from-bottom) and I generally do feel well continue that. We’re realistic in our targets but midtable is our aim really.”

When asked what kind of League he is expecting this season, Shinners replied: “I’m unsure at the minute but you look at every single team and there’s no real bad team no more.  Like I said, if we can keep our consistency and just keep going, I think we’ll be alright.”

Stansfeld: Cemal Osman, Frank McCormack, Harvey Mead (Luke Almond 85), Oliver Andrews, Jamie Thuiller, Muhammad Buhari, Dario Sesay-De Luca, Adam Wallis (Billy Marsh 72), Christopher Alhassan (Jimmy Shepherd 79), Jack Calvert (Sam Plant 64), Harrison English (Robert Huges 79).
Subs: Kai Jeffrey, Teddy Green

Booked: Oliver Andrews 31

Harrow Borough: Tom Clark, Olumide Akinode (Maxwell Holland 85), Luke Brophy, Alfie Tucker (David Taylor 90), Harry Nevins, Harry Gallagher, Nawaf Miller (Kristian Swaby 65), Jack Hutchinson, Gareth Chendlik (Leonard Farhali 55), Prince Mbenghi, Will Bailey (Sakeel Balfour Brown 79).
Subs: Harry Tucker, Oliver Cannon

Goals: Gareth Chendlik 2, 18, 23, Leonard Farhali 84

Booked: Olumide Akinode 80, Prince Mbenghi 89

Attendance: 181
Referee: Mr Alex Gordon
Assistants: Mr Albert Forbes & Mr Mark Barber