Witham Town are defeated by Hashtag United

Town can have no quarrel with the outcome but a four-goal margin flattered the home side.

Clinical finishing made the difference as Hashtag’s attacking quality manifested itself in the final half-hour.

Some careless Witham defending contributed to the final score.

Hashtag were first to create good chances.

Witham goalkeeper Rhys Madden had already saved well from a free-kick before Jesse Waller-Lassen hit the Witham crossbar with a fierce shot from outside the penalty area in the tenth minute.

Witham settled down and made the game a fairly even contest in the first half.

Hashtag created the better chances but Witham looked threatening when moving forward.

Debutant Archie Tamplin showed signs of possessing a degree of midfield creativity that will stand Witham in good stead.

Ayo Olukoga caught the eye with good defensive work against his former club and he supported the attack well.

In the 22nd minute Olukoga’s pass found A’maree Robinson-Jones on the left and his cross was headed away for a corner by Steve Sheehan.

Madden saved a dangerous shot from Luke Hirst but Witham looked relatively comfortable until the deadlock was broken in the 36th minute when Witham conceded the opening goal in disappointing circumstances.

Following an injury break the Witham defence failed to concentrate when Hashtag took a short corner.

Hashtag’s Sam Bantick received the ball by the corner flag and was allowed to run unchallenged until he reached the danger area close to the near post.

His pass found Steve Sheehan who put the home side ahead.

Hirst doubled Witham’s lead with a header in the 56th minute.

It was a good finish but a soft goal to concede as the Witham defence were not alive to the danger as they thought the ball was going out of play from a cross.

The visitors seemed to have a mountain to climb but Ramiah Mills pulled a goal back three minutes later after a good Witham move with the final passes coming from Tamplin and Billy Willis.

The goal sparked off a brief Witham recovery as the visitors had a period of dominance.

A Liam Whipps corner from the right hit the woodwork and Ben Search shot narrowly wide seconds later.

Adam Vyse headed just over as Witham fought back.

Witham failed to score when they were on top and they were made to pay for their profligacy.

The impressive Sam Bantick scored with a shot from the edge of the area in the 67th minute

Witham still looked good in attack and a through ball by Tamplin put Mills through on goal. His shot was saved by Anthony Page.

The irrepressible Bantick was stretching the Witham defence with his movement.

He found an opening in the 81st minute and his shot from the right was parried by Madden who was unable to prevent Carlos Flood from scoring.

It was tough on a Witham side that had competed well earlier but worse was to come for the visitors when Sheehan scored again seven minutes later from a corner from the left that was poorly defended.

Saturday’s home match against Barking will be a crucial encounter where both sides will be looking for points.