It wasn't meant to be for Woodford Town, who fell to a defeat against Takeley in the Essex Senior League Play-Offs for a second successive season, this time in the final.

The affair got off to a cagey start, with neither side creating many chances in the opening stages, however, it was the hosts who took the lead just two minutes after the half-hour mark. A corner was swung in and flicked on, and there was nothing Nathan Sollosi could do to stop himself diverting the ball past Manny Agboola in the Woodford goal. 1-0 Takeley.

However, a minute before the break, substitute Ernest Okoh - who had replaced the injured Josh Banfield just three minutes prior - had arguably our best chance of the tie. Our Play-Off Semi-Final hero was alert to a Takeley defender misjudging the fight of the ball and pounced, but he couldn't quite get the ball out from under his feet before firing an effort straight down the throat of goalkeeper Jarvis Monk.

After the interval, a tactical change from Shane Baptiste proved pivotal to our attempted fightback. David Gokou had multiple efforts blocked, and Miles Mitchell-Nelson struck a header just over the bar as The Woods pushed for an equaliser. With seventeen minutes to go, a huge penalty shout was waved away by the man in the middle, Woodford, perhaps could feel hard done by with the deficit only one at the time.

However, with seven minutes of the ninety, Takeley found the back of the net once more, sealing the tie and sealing promotion to step four in the process in front of over 1,000 people at the Full Vision Stadium.

Woodford end the season proud despite the loss, breaking a Club record for their points tally in the regular season and finishing the campaign with the best defensive record, whilst also doing so by being backed by an incredible home attendance at Ashton's in the semi-final and also in the final, with around 250 Woods supporters making the trip up the M11.

Starting XI: E. Agboola (GK); Mitchell-Nelson, Kirwan-Meade, J. Steele (Omope - 58'); L. Steele (Carvalho - 77'), Owusu, Kebi, Gokou; Sollosi (Johnston - 77'), Banfield (Okoh - 41'); Jackson.

Unused substitute: Martins