Southend Manor 0 Tower Hamlets 2

Essex Senior League, Wednesday 26^th March 2014

Manor welcomed high flying Tower Hamlets to the Arena last night hoping to try and gain at least a point to stop the losing streak. And Manor started much better than they did on Monday night by closing down space and holding onto the ball when in possession.  Hamlet’s did create the games first chance when they broke through the back line but keeper Matthew Walker saved well. For all of Manor’s endeavour Hamlets were creating the chances but found Walker in inspired form to keep the score down to 0-0.  Manor themselves were looking to get forward as much as they could but had no end product which has been the problem in the last few games. When the half time whistle blew Manor felt satisfied with their work so far, keeping a good side like Hamlets at bay was a good achievement and they would hope that the half time oranges would inspire them to even more success. Alas it wasn’t to be.  Although on  the hour mark Manor had two great chances to score, both from corners, but wayward headers and good defending stopped what would have been a very welcome goal for the home side.  Then on 63 minutes one moment of sloppiness in the Manor backline allowed Kane Wilson to get in behind and slot past Walkers hand for 1-0.

Manor to their credit didn’t let this get to them and continued to try and play football, although a few passes were going astray and giving up possession cheaply didn’t help the cause, although the fight was most certainly there. However on 77 minutes Hamlets doubled their lead with another sloppy goal.  Stephen Demetriou’s free kick from the left side of the box was driven in low and missed everyone and went straight in the far corner, with the keeper totally unsighted and with no chance of stopping it, for 2-0.

This kind of ended the game after that and although Manor continued to battle hard they just lost out to more powerful opponents in the end.  But well played Manor and I’m sure if they continue to work as hard as they did tonight then results will come.  Well done to Hamlets though who are now only two points behind our neighbours Great Wakering Rovers.