Essex Senior League: Sporting Bengal 1 Basildon United 0

Sporting Bengal claimed all three points in a closely fought encounter thanks to a composed finish from Terlochan Singh just before the hour mark.

New striker Tunde Adewunmi displayed his strength, fighting off a Basildon defender to hold the ball up and place it perfectly into the path of Singh.

And he shot low and hard into the bottom right hand corner of the net to seal victory for Anway Uddin’s men.

The hosts stared the better of the two sides, as Adewunmi knocked the ball into Taj Hussain’s’ path and his shot went narrowly wide.

Adewunmi’s hold-up play was on show again after controlling a quick goal kick, outmuscling a Basildon defender and laying the ball off to Hussain who was unfortunately tackled by a covering defender.

After 20 minutes Josh Gonzalez played a delicate pass to Adewunmi who shot straight at Basildon goalkeeper Grant Heywood.

Basildon’s first chance came through Brad Hunter who shot wide after Ben Sartain had knocked on a Craig Gilliam pass.

The visitors created another chance soon after as Dan Howett played a defence-splitting through ball into the path of Gilliam, who sharply cut inside on to his right foot and unleashed a furious shot that was expertly saved by Lewis Lockyer.

Sporting Bengal responded with an attack of their own through Prince William, but after having several shots blocked, he finally put the ball into the box for Hussain who volleyed just over.

The home side came close to taking the lead before half time through Gonzalez who volleyed marginally over from a William cross.

And the second half began with Sporting Bengal looking the likeliest to score, with Adewunmi heading just wide from a Shahed Ahmed free-kick.

Adewunmi was at the centre of the action again to assist the winner on 58 minutes, holding the ball up from a cross and laying it into Singh’s path.

Showing great composure, Singh placed the ball into the bottom right hand corner to break the deadlock.

Sporting Bengal went close to doubling their lead through Gonzalez who met a Hussein cross but put his header agonisingly wide.

Basildon responded and nearly equalised soon after through Hunter, who was just unable to meet a powerful Gilliam cross.

Gilliam was at the centre of another Basildon attack when he took a shot from the edge of the box, forcing a save from Lockyer.

But Basildon couldn’t put the home side under any meaningful pressure late on as Sporting Bengal claimed victory.

Sporting Bengal: Lockyer, Kahie, Williams, Ahmed, Adeyemi, Meikle, Hussain (Aoldirive 78), Singh, Adewunmi, Gonzalez, William. Unused subs: Teladjati, Zaman, Kartita, Jogi.

Basildon: Heywood, Williams, Hammond, Howett (Clarke 46), Sinfield, Maynard, Leahy (Nyonse 73), Sartain, Hunter, Gilliam, Crosby (Falasie 61). Unused subs: Megson, Onifede.