Match Report

Thurlow Nunn Division 1 South

Harlow Town 5-3 NW London

Lamine Gomes 5' (NW London)
Fabion Simms 15' (Harlow Town)
Jack Zielinski 17' (Harlow Town)
Felipe Melgaco 22' (NW London)
Frederick Agyemang 60' (Harlow Town)
Frederick Agyemang 77' (Harlow Town)
Denzel Effah 82' (Harlow Town)
Lamine Gomes 90' (NW London)

In a fiercely contested and entertaining match, Harlow Town defeated NW London 5-3, a game marked by a controversial sin-binning that tilted the balance.

Both teams came in with high stakes: Harlow aimed to maintain pressure on Hackney Wick at the top of the table, while NW London hoped to build momentum for a play-off push, having won four of their last six games.

In front of a strong crowd of 400, NW London started confidently. Lamine Gomes opened the scoring with a brilliant solo effort, cutting inside and curling a beautiful shot from outside the box to give the "Gorillas" a 1-0 lead.

For a while, everything seemed to be going NWL's way, but an unfortunate error led to Harlow's equalizer. After Kian Eyers mishandled a free-kick, the ball struck Fabian Simms' knee and rolled into the goal, leveling the score.

The momentum shifted quickly, with Denzel Effah setting up Jack Zielenski for an easy back-post finish just minutes later, putting Harlow ahead 2-1. NW London didn't back down, though, as Felipe Melgaco hit a sensational free-kick into the top corner, bringing them back to 2-2.

The first half ended with NW London looking composed and effective with the ball.

Both teams kept up the intensity into the second half until a major turning point occurred: NW London's captain James Allen was sin-binned for abusive language directed at the linesman.

The decision was contentious, especially since the referee initially seemed to wave play on but changed his stance after consulting the linesman.

With NW London down a player, Harlow took advantage of their extra man. Just before Allen was set to rejoin the game, Agyeman headed in a cross to put Harlow back in the lead at 3-2.

NW London was still in the game and fought to equalize, but as they pushed forward in the last 15 minutes, Harlow struck twice more, first through another goal from Agyeman and then a final strike from Effah, making it 5-2.

Although Lamine Gomes scored a second goal for NW London to narrow the gap to 5-3, it was too late. The sin-binning had shifted the game's momentum decisively in Harlow's favor, leaving NW London wondering what might have been if not for that crucial decision.