Thurlow Nunn Division One South, Friday January 7th
I was over at Parkside on Friday night to see Ipswich Wanderers go to the summit of the Thurlow Nunn South after coming from behind to net five against ten man May & Baker in a freezing Aveley.
It had been almost a whole month since the home side had last tasted action, but prior to that break they had lost three straight in the division, seeing them slip into mid table and nine points off the top five, whereas Wanderers were on a five match winning run and knew if they avoided defeat in this one they would go top of the pile.
The visitors had netted twenty one goals in those five league games as well, and had only conceded three goals in that same period, two of which came in their last outing against Burnham Ramblers, so they were in imperious form should we say, they had won fifteen of their twenty league games so far, losing only once, so this was going to be a difficult evening for the home side, or so we thought.
However the hosts rolled up their sleeves and really got into the contest, and on the quarter hour mark had a surprise lead when a sloppy pass back towards their own penalty area from the visitors saw Idris Aminu race onto the ball, round keeper Henry Dion-Curtis, and then slot into the empty net, and the visitors knew this was not going to be easy.
Just past the half hour mark though came the equaliser, when a sloppy pass in midfield was seized upon by Wanderers, and a ball dinked to the back post saw Jack Baker stoop to head home and bring his side back on parity, both sides had created openings throughout the first period but with both sides only managing a goal a piece it saw the teams go into the break all square. It had been a thoroughly compelling competitive half and a surprise to me as I thought the hosts would struggle in this one, but far from it.
How would the second half pan out? Well, a fairly even first ten to fifteen minutes followed in the early exchanges, but then just before the hour mark came a moment that changed the contest, as home striker Gabriel Odili went into a challenge with visiting keeper Dion-Curtis, and although it looked like a fifty fifty challenge, the referee decided to show Odili a second yellow and send off the striker, it was a big moment and one that swung the game in favour of the visitors.
And barely two minutes after this Wanderers were to take the lead when star striker Matt Blake got in on goal and slotted home, but what happened next was very bizarre, as the substituted Dan Cunningham, still smarting from being taken off I assume, took offence to Blake and his team mates from running over to celebrate with their bench after giving their side the lead, and an altercation between Cunningham and Blake ensued, resulting in the subbed player being shown a straight red, and Blake received a booking, it was a truly bizarre few moments and something I have never seen before.
It didn't really affect the visitors who were now taking control of the contest for the first time, and with fourteen minutes remaining sealed the contest when the superb Jacob Lay controlled a pass on the by-line superbly before cutting inside and belting an effort into the far corner to give his side a two goal advantage.
The hosts were struggling to deal with their opponents now, a man light and looking like they were going to concede with every Wanderers attack on their goal, and with a minute left of the ninety they did concede a fourth when lovely one touch play ended with Evan Bolt slotting home, and then in stoppage time centre half Kris Rose thumped home from a yard out to complete an emphatic final half hour from the visiting side.
This was tough on May & Baker and 5-1 wasn't really a true reflection on the contest, for an hour it was in the balance at 1-1, but the red card totally changed the game and Wanderers took full advantage of their extra man to ram home four goals in the final half hour and send themselves to the summit of the Thurlow Nunn South, whilst for Bakers they remain eleventh and nine points off the play off positions.
They welcome bottom side Haverhill Borough to Parkside next Friday evening, you feel that is must win to give them some confidence and to try and keep their hopes of a top five finish in tact, Wanderers themselves have next weekend off and are not in action again until the 18th January when they welcome Coggeshall United to Suffolk.
Full time May & Baker 1 Ipswich Wanderers 5
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