(Action from Manor's U23 sides draw with Athletic Newham Reserves, a game that exploded into life in the second period in more ways than one)
I was over at Southchurch Park for a double header on what was my return to football after a three week break, and to say the day was eventful was the understatement of the century, anyway it began with Manor's first team taking on Athletic Newham in the Essex Senior League, and then following that Manor's U23 side took on Athletic Newham's Reserve side in a Len Cordell Memorial Trophy Group B contest as that competition got underway.
Let's see how the first team game went shall we, the events that followed it were a bigger talking point then the game itself, but more on that later.....
Athletic Newham 2 Southend Manor 1
This was technically a home game for Newham but with their pitch not being playable at The Terry Mac the game was switched to Southchurch Park, and Manor needed all the advantages they could get after suffering five successive league defeats after an opening day draw with Stansted which sees them bottom of the division.
Newham by their standards have not started the season brilliantly either, picking up two wins, one draw and three defeats in their six games to date, and they actually began this game with ten men after one of their starters didn't make kick off, although he did join the fray after five minutes or so, therefore no real harm done in the end.
The first period wasn't the most enjoyable half of football I have watched, but Manor did create the best opening of the chances that did come along and saw Ben Allen's effort somehow blocked on the line when it looked easier to score, and it was a half that saw Newham bickering amongst themselves as they were far from pleased with their showings, but they were still level at the break despite this.
Just past the hour mark though came the breakthrough, and it came for Manor, as a header from Mitchell Arthur looked to have been saved by visiting keeper Michael Georgiev Arnauchkov, but the ball slipped through his grasp and according to the assistant on the near side just over the line, which rather upset the keeper who it's fair to say did not agree with his decision, but Manor had the lead, could they possibly hold on or even add to it?
Sadly for Manor they could not, and once again this season were pegged back with just under twenty minutes remaining when a super cross from the near side found skipper Joel Appiah who applied a powerful header at the far post into the net, and this really now had Newham's tails well and truly up, and Manor were now on the back foot.
Sure enough eight minutes later Newham netted what proved to be the winner as Appiah raced through to slot home into the far corner, cueing joyful scenes amongst the Newham players and bench, they had been made to work hard for this by a very competitive Manor side who were just not having any luck this campaign, Newham had been far from impressive in this contest, but they had dug out the win, a win that takes them up to fifth now, as for Manor, that's six losses in a row now as they remain rock bottom.
I will go onto the second game of the day in a moment, but during the first half of that game I found out that after Manor's loss to Newham in the first team game, chairman Gerry decided to sack his management team by text message, he had been at the club so could have done this face to face, the proper way, but no, he decided to leave the club and then sack them all by text, a truly awful way to do this and totally disrespectful to all concerned, and it left quite a few people, including me, rather annoyed with what had gone on.
Now I know managers get sacked all the time, but James and his assistants/coaches did not deserve for it to be done in this way, and everyone I have spoken too, including committee members who were not consulted about this decision, are furious with this, and to be honest it's an utterly cowardly way for someone to relief others of their duties, and it has also resulted in most of the first team leaving the club too, as they feel they can no longer play for the club after the treatment of their management team.
It's a terrible way for this tenure to end, James and his management team had performed miracles in keeping Manor in the ESL last season, and they were promised so much this campaign, but those promises for whatever reason were not kept, so they had their hands tied behind their backs so to speak, so this makes todays events even more unacceptable.
I wish James, The Real GKC, Callum and April all the best and hope they are back in football very soon, you did not deserve to be treated the way you were today. And Gerry if you do read this then I hope you realise that what you did today is not acceptable and you will learn from this, but anyway I will say no more on this matter now.
Anyway let's move onto the second match of the afternoon, and sadly that was not the end of the drama for the day either as it turned out, but anyway lets see what happened in the Len Cordell Memorial Trophy Group B match up.....
Southend Manor U23 2 Athletic Newham Reserves 2
Manor's U23s had played just the one game in the ESL Reserve Division Two this campaign, a 3-2 home win over May & Baker, whereas Newham's Reserves had played five league games in the same division and had won two but lost the other three, so how would this opening Len Cordell Group Game go?
Well, Manor lead at the break after a lovely strike from their full back, the number two, from outside the box in the 20th minute, but they were pegged back eight minutes after the break thanks to a powerful free kick which gave the keeper no chance at all.
Things though were about to take a turn for the worse when Newham were awarded a penalty with ten minutes remaining, it was a penalty but some of the hosts players felt he may have made more of it than he should, and it resulted in some pushing and shoving inside the box, and some of the visiting players having discussions with Manor's club lino on the near side shall we say.
The penalty was eventually dispatched, and one or two of the Newham players gave it back to the linesman in the near side, which caused more discussions shall we say, but then the unsavoury part came when the Newham attacker, the number ten, accused the club lino of making a racist remark, which I can 100% guarantee you did not happen as I was right next to him at the time, but this incensed the lino who ran onto the pitch to confront the player, both had to be held back and after it had all calmed down the player who was doing the club lino job was booked.
The number ten who made that remark, was duly given a straight red, much to his dismay, now I am not 100% sure if it was for the remark he made but it meant the visitors were down to ten for the remainder of the contest, it was not the best few minutes that is for sure and it would certainly make the final few minutes spicy to say the least.
Anyway Manor then netted a super leveller with six minutes to go, but then saw themselves reduced to ten men when the referee handed out a second yellow, rather harshly in all honestly, to the number six, meaning it was ten vs ten for the final few minutes of the game.
It had certainly been an explosive end to the contest, not for all the right reasons, but it had been a decent game of football for sure, and it ended all square, although farcical scenes then followed at full time when nobody seemed to know, including the referee, what happened in the event of a draw.
The referee even went back into his dressing room to find out what happened next, but this being a group game obviously the result is a point each and the game ends there, it rather summed an eventful day at Southchurch Park that was for sure.
Phew, what a day, and it certainly earned a beer in the clubhouse afterwards, where Manor go from here in terms of their first team who knows as right now Gerry had no first team by all accounts, so maybe those U23s, who looked pretty decent I must say, might have to step up to the plate for now but it's a very sad state of affairs indeed.
Anyway I'm off for a lie down and I hope to bring you more blogs very soon, just not ones with so much drama like this one!!!
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