Ebanks treble helps Bards to thrilling victory
Stratford Town 4 Barwell 3
Seven goals, two penalties, late drama and a hat-trick – you certainly get your money’s worth at the Arden Garages Stadium these days.
In truth, Stratford should have been home and dry by the break but they allowed visitors Barwell back into the match and then had to come from behind to grab the three points that hoisted them up to sixth in the table ahead of a trip to fellow promotion contenders Needham Market at the weekend.
Alex Worley and Charlie Williams whipped efforts across the face of goal with the latter firing a free-kick just too high as the Bards started brightly while a stray header from defender Chris Hussey sent Barwell striker Jahvon Davidson-Miller in on goal only for keeper Callum Smith to deny him.
The opening goal came on 21 minutes. The excellent Worley was again involved, floating a cross to the far side for Callum Ebanks to head down and Lewis Ison was able to force the ball past Harry Evans in the Barwell goal.
Beck-Ray Enoru, by far the pick of the Barwell side, had an effort blocked by Dan Vann on the half-hour but it still came as a shock when the visitors struck twice in as many minutes just before the interval. On 40 minutes, another sloppy header from Hussey was pounced on by Enoru before he flicked the ball past the keeper and then Ethan Hill latched on to a ball slipped through the Bards defence before producing a calm finish.
Undeterred, Town finished the half strongly and were back on level terms in the 45th minute when a pin-point clearance from Smith found Williams who then teed up Ebanks for the first of his hat-trick. There was still time for Jack Storer to force Evans into a fingertip save from his powerful 20-yard free-kick.
Both sides pressed for the winner to round-off a scintillating game with Rowley heading over for the visitors but it was the Bards who bagged the points three minutes from time when Josh Hawker’s ball to the far side of the area was nimbly steered into red zone by Storer for Ebanks to fire home.
There was nearly a fifth for the hosts in added time when Williams tried his luck with a 25-yard free-kick but Evans was equal to the task.
Stratford: Smith, Vann, Worley, Hussey, McCone, Solanke (Molyneux 76), Storer (Wilson 87), Hawker, Ebanks, Ison, Williams. Subs (not used): O’Brien, Daly, Barkers.
Barwell: Evans, Flanagan, Freeman, Kerr (Chong 64), Rowley, Ward, Enoru, Hill, Davidson-Miller, Hickey, Edwards. Subs (not used): Akinwe, Kamara, Charles, Nunn.
Referee: Robert Massey-Ellis
Attendance: 587
Bards Star Man: Callum Ebanks
Opposition Star Man: Bech-Ray Enoru
