From striker to keeper and back again, Anton saves the day
Bethnal Green United 2 Takeley 2
Jack of all trades Anton Stephenson was back in his familiar goalscoring role to rescue a point for United on Saturday after donning the goalkeeping gloves in midweek.
In Wednesday night’s Gordon Brasted Memorial Trophy 3-1 win over Haringey & Waltham Development, 16-year-old keeper Lee McKnight was injured conceding the goal, so Stephenson put on the number one jersey and kept a clean sheet as his side hit back to win and progress from round two.
However, the player/boss opted to pass the gloves on for Saturday’s league clash with Takeley and netted twice in the final 20 minutes to overturn a two-goal deficit and claim a point.
The result meant BGU maintained their unbeaten start to the season, but Stephenson was not content with his team’s performance.
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“We weren’t very good and I include myself in that,” he admitted. “We created more chances than them and to an outside observer we should have won.
“But we expect better of ourselves and I felt we didn’t create enough clear cut chances.”
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United face a stiff test this Saturday when they travel to fellow-promotion hopefuls Burnham Ramblers.
And Stephenson believes his players are aware of the need to put in a better performance this weekend as they seek to climb the Essex Senior League table.
“I think we will improve this weekend,” he said confidently.
“The main problem last weekend was our complacent attitude.
“Against Burnham we will react. We discussed our performance after the game and I don’t think we will have any problems this week.
“The boys are all winners. I want to win the title, they want to win the title, so there should be no issues with motivation.”
