Brentwood Town returned to winning ways with a 2-0 win over Hashtag United at The Arena on Saturday.
A goal from Kymani Thomas early on in the first-half, a Danny Ogunleye stoppage time goal at the end of the second-half, and a third clean sheet of the season was enough to seal all the three points for the Blues.
Brentwood were awarded an early free-kick after Ogunleye was brought down on the edge of the area by Matthew Wooldridge. Kymani Thomas stepped up had his effort denied by the Tags’ wall, before Jaden Brissett capitalised on the counterattack and forced a diving save from Melvin Minter.
A curling strike by Thomas on the edge of the box saw a deflection over, but in the 14th minute he wasn’t to be denied when his long-range effort was fired into the far post, keeping goalkeeper Jack Giddens flat footed.
The Tags responded well and produced some attacking moments of their own. Most notably Jaxon Brown’s close-range strike which was ruled out for offside.
Brentwood pushed to double their lead before the break. A floated ball by Andy Freeman was placed into the path of Thomas with his shot collected by Giddens, before a Max Hudson corner was met in the air by Ogunleye, only for the striker to see his header flash past of the post.
After the restart, a flurry of chances fell to Brentwood. Ogunleye and Thomas of course involved again, with both attackers seeing their efforts saved by the inspired Giddens in goal.
With the score only at 1-0 Hashtag were always in with a chance, and came close through substitute Max Cornhill, who found himself unmarked in the Brentwood box, only to see his header dip just over the bar.
As the game went on, Brentwood had further chances to extend their lead. Alejandro Machado saw his shot deflected and cleared off the line, and Blues substitute Charlee Hughes saw his acrobatic effort fly agonisingly over.
It was only a matter of time before the Blues sealed the victory though, as Ogunleye added another after getting onto the end of a flicked header by Hughes, and slotted a shot under Giddens to net his 14th league goal (and 16th in all competitions).
Brentwood Town are back in action next Saturday as they host Potters Bar Town at The Arena for our final home game of 2025!
BRENTWOOD TOWN: Minter (GK), Reid, Cripps (C), Kaiser, Hudson, Agyemang (Johnson 68′), Freeman (Edwards 90+4′), Machado, Olukolu (Hughes 69′), Thomas, Ogunleye
Subs not used: Aarons Royal, Vaivada
HASHTAG UNITED: Giddens (GK), Ring, Ayoola, Smith (C), Rusoke, Christou, Wooldridge (Cornhill 66′), Ogbebor (Wilson 65′), Brown, Brissett (Aromolaran 62′), May-Parrott (Bakaar 46′)
Subs not used: J. Anderson
By Michaela Georgopolous
