A game full of incident against two of the division’s best sides ended had three penalties, three sendings off and a late penalty to decide it in Hayes and Yeading United’s favour.

After a lively start from United without threatening the Beaconsfield Town goal, Scott Cousins sparked a counter attack by passing forward to Anthony Mendy on the left flank and he cut inside before shooting straight at Zaki Oualah from a tight angle. On six minutes, the first major incident occurred as a Scott Donnelly delivery from a free kick found Manny Duku and although his first effort was saved by the hands of Brendan Hazlett, the second was blocked by the hands of retreating midfielder Jordan Ajanlekoko and a penalty was given. It took quite some time for the officials to work out the perpetrator but once they did, the mandatory red card was shown. However, the hosts got a let off as Hazlett then proceeded to save Duku’s spot kick low to his left.

The home side responded with two free kicks of their own, the first from Cousins which Oualah watched drift across the goalmouth and the second from former United midfielder Wes Daly which Oualah saved diving to his right. Play settled down to quite an even game but on 28 minutes Spyros Mentis flicked on and Duku got in behind his marker and lobbed the onrushing Hazlett only for Reece Yorke to clear the ball with a goal saving header. From the resulting corner, Tommy Smith rose highest but cleared the bar with his header.

Just after a Toby Little cross had bounced and nearly wrongfooted an advancing Hazlett, a clever advantage after a foul on Duku saw Donnelly nip in behind on the right flank and cross for Sahr Kabba who flicked the ball goalwards but straight at Hazlett.

Fourteen seconds into the second half, the second major decision of the match came when Smith fouled Bahrain Pathan in the act of shooting and was more promptly sent off for preventing another goal scoring opportunity. However, once again, the penalty was missed, Pashaj crashing his shot against the underside of the bar and Priestley Farquharson got to the bouncing ball first in order to clear. With the game now 10 v 10, one might expect an open encounter but in fact, play became scrappy for quite some time as a continual stream of fouls from both teams spoiled the flow. It was still United who were doing most of the pressing and on 72 minutes a long Oualah clearance was flicked on by Duku to substitute Duncan Culley, whose header was caught by Hazlett.

With 15 minutes to go, a third red card was shown in controversial circumstances as a clear foul on Duku wasn’t spotted by the referee and immediately afterwards Ola Olajubu handled and was sent off for a second bookable offence, leaving United with nine men facing ten.

Space was opening up and Callum Webb got plenty on the right wing, and his low bear post centre found Lee Barney whose goal bound shot was blocked by Farquharson for a corner. From that spot kick, Mentis cleared for Duku who spun the ball out left to Little. His lung busting run took him 70 yards and he took the ball past Nathan Webb whose push in the back sent him tumbling for another penalty. This time, Duku sent Hazlett the wrong way with his low finish to the right of the goal. This was to prove decisive as United successfully held off the home side to deny them any chance of an equaliser and win by the only goal of the game.

Report by Nick Bell.

United Man of the Match: Priestly Farquharson.