Eastside Athletic 4-3 Forest Albion

Eastside Athletic made it three wins on the bounce, edging out Forest Albion 4-3 in one of the most entertaining games of pre-season so far — backing up victories over Romford Town Flyers and Barking Colts.

Travelling squad: Francis Hastings (GK), Alfie Stacey, Corey Sears (C), Bobby Goodall, Bailey Hossack, Owen Oakford, Danny Fenn, Richard Agu, Bruno Da Fonseca, Prince Bansende, Jack Hobbs, Logan Hossack, Billy Longford, Tobi Omotosho, Matty Stacey, Daniel Kayode.

Forest Albion, a Division 6 side — a division below Eastside — put up a real fight from start to finish. They opened the scoring after 15 minutes, capitalising on a defensive error to give their attacker an easy finish.

Eastside responded before the hydration break through Bruno Da Fonseca, a well-deserved leveller for one of the most consistent performers of the pre-season campaign. Fresh off the bench after the break, Mason Active needed only minutes to make an impact, curling a clean outside-of-the-boot finish from the edge of the box to put Eastside 2-1 up at half-time.

Forest Albion levelled again early in the second half with a pinpoint header from a corner — set-pieces continuing to be an issue all pre-season. But Eastside pushed on. Mason Active got on the end of a brilliant run from Owen Oakford to restore the lead at 3-2, before completing his hat-trick minutes later to make it 4-2 — a scoreline this squad is becoming familiar with.

Forest Albion pulled one back from the penalty spot, sending goalkeeper Francis Hastings the wrong way to make it 4-3. With 15-20 minutes to go, Player/Manager Bailey Hossack made his best Sean Dyche impression, switching from a 3-4-1-2 to a 4-4-2 to see the game out.

Eastside held firm until the final five minutes, when Forest Albion carved out a golden one-on-one chance — only for Francis Hastings to produce a wonder save to seal the win.

Man of the Match: Mason Active

PRIDE OF THE EAST.