Brentwood Town 4 – 0 Basildon United
Isthmian League North Division
Monday 21st April 2025
Brentwood Town were crowned champions of the Isthmian North Division on Bank Holiday Monday as they sealed their promotion pursuit with a 4-0 victory over relegated Basildon United.
A record 1,467 supporters gathered at The Brentwood Centre Arena to witness Brentwood advance into tier seven of the English Football League for the first time in 10 years.
The Blues made two changes to the side that secured a two-all draw away at Wroxham just three days before, with Lyle Della-Verde and Jesse Olukolu replacing Mekhi McKenzie and Shad Ngandu respectively.
An early chance came for the hosts as an in-swinging corner from Della-Verde found the path of top goal scorer Daniel Ogunleye whose attempt forced the hands of George Marsh to keep it out.
Both sides were level into the half, until the 33rd minute as Benas Vaivada turned Ellis Ashworth and crossed into Ogunleye who fired down the middle of the net to bag his 40th goal of the season.
The Blues continued to dominate in their attack throughout the remainder of the half and got a second goal in the second half. Olukolu took on the defence down the right-hand side before squaring his delivery to the boots of Ogunleye, who was there to tap home another.
Just seven minutes had passed before The Blues’ talisman completed his third hat-trick of the season. The corner delivery from Della-Verde was met by Ogunleye in the crowded area, who headed his effort over Marsh.
In the closing stages the hosts made it four with Ogunleye securing his fourth, the most that he has scored in a singular game this season, as he advanced beyond the Basildon back line and struck across the goal into the far corner.
The visitors did have some clear efforts in the last ten minutes with captain Ryan Mallet’s shot forcing a tip over by Melvin Minter, before another of his attempts forced a diving save.
However, Brentwood came out on top sitting five points clear of promotion contenders Bury Town, who they secured a 3-1 victory against in the play-off semi-final last season, with a game in hand remaining.
Speaking to the BBC Essex after the trophy presentation captain Matt Cripps said: “The club has worked so hard over the last five years to get in a position where they are today. This is for them and for their hard work that they done over the last few years.
“We’ve been in the play-offs a few times now and lost the final on penalties. But this was meant to be, bringing it back to the club and do it in front of our fans and the performance today was unbelievable”.
Chairman Jez Dickinson added, “It has been emotional, but we got there in the end. We’ve been superb all season, particularly in the second half (of the season), and the season has been a bit of a dream with cup runs and winning the league.
“Whenever we have lost a game, we bounced back straight away and that was the difference. I am so proud (of the team)”.
Sharing his thoughts on the season of Ogunleye who has found the net 43 times this season, Jez said, “Daniel was with me when I used to coach the under 12s the whole way through. It is special for him to be the main goal scorer as is Brentwood through and through.
“It will be a higher standard (entering the Premier Division) but we have played a few teams from above. We’re going to go up and look to do it again;” he added.
By Michaela Georgopoulos
Photo: Nick Gunn Photography
Photos: https://www.nickgunn.com/p68436777
https://www.nickgunn.com/p31065733
