In an historic first, for the district Brent fielded a girl in a boys’ team. Fresh from leading the girls to three trophies, Brent girls’ captain Giuseppina Carnevale made her debut for the boys. Brent started quickly and soon Troy Kelly sped past the last defender heading towards goal. He shot towards the bottom right corner, but the goalkeeper touched the ball wide. However, Brent then took the lead as Kalungi Lovell received the ball from Armend Muslika on the right-hand side and cut in, hitting a shot into the top right corner. 1-0.
Brent looked for a second goal as Danny Gobishavi Por Asl played a through ball towards Kelly in a one-on-one with the goalkeeper, only to hit the post. Gobishavi then dispossessed a Stevenage defender and shot into the left hand corner but the ‘keeper touched the ball onto the post. The pace and dribbling of Carnavale was causing Stevenage all sorts of problems and just after the break she cut in from the left to play a ball to Danny who turned and shot from outside the box onto the right hand post. Brent continued to pile on the pressure as Armend Muslika shot from distance but the ball dropped to Kelly who shot just wide of the target.
Soon after that, Danny headed just wide from a corner. Stevenage rallied but Brent held firm.
After the match, Brent coach Paul Woodford commented that: “It was a stylish performance form Brent who played with patience and finesse to control the game whilst new player Giuseppina fitted in seamlessly.”
Squad: Giuseppina Carnevale, Danny Gobishavi Por Asl, Trae Golding, Troy Kelly, Kalungi Lovell, Armend Muslika, Tyreece Pollendine, Fabian Prela and Zak Zebiri.