Galleywood Reserves 1 Old Chelmsfordians 'A' 2

Essex Saturday Junior Cup 2nd Round, Saturday 15th October

I was over at Slades Lane on Saturday for an Essex Junior Cup 2nd Round contest, and saw a belter from Daniel Pounds six minutes before the break send Old Chelmsfordians 'A' into the next round at the expense of Galleywood Reserves, setting up a home tie with Fleet in the next round.

The hosts, who play in Essex Olympian Division Four, defeated Mid Essex Premier side South Woodham Ferrers United 2-0 away in Round One, whereas Old Chelmsfordians 'A' had got a bye into Round Two, however that win for the home side had been their only one this season to date as after five league games they only had a solitary point to show for it, and had only scored five and conceded fifteen in those games too.

But Old Chelmsfordians 'A', who play in Mid Essex Division One, also had not won either of their league games so far, drawing one and losing the other, and with Galleywood having beaten a side from the division above OC's 'A' side in the last round away from home, on paper it looked as if the home side would win this one going on that, but football, and especially cup football, is not played on paper is it.

Initially it looked as though Galleywood would take control of the tie, taking the lead after just twelve minutes when a loose ball fell into the path of Diogo Viveiros who side footed a lovely effort into the bottom corner of the net, but that lead lasted only seven minutes as the Mid Essex visitors levelled the tie up when a free kick swung to the back post saw Orrie Rock send a header in off the woodwork.

Galleywood continued to edge the remainder of the half, seeing one effort somehow cleared off the line when it looked like they were certain to score, but six minutes before the break the visitors were the ones to hit the front thanks to a brilliant strike from Pounds, who smashed an unstoppable effort from outside the box which dipped over the keeper and into the net, and just before the break it was almost a two goal lead for the visitors but Rock could only sky over when presented with a guilt edged chance.

Could the hosts get back into the tie in the second period, well they certainly tried but either found the visitors keeper in fine form, making a couple of decent stops, the crossbar in the way on another occasion, heroic blocks from the visiting defenders, and headers going off target as OC's 'A' side certainly had their backs to the wall at times, but they managed to dig in and survive pressure from the hosts to hold onto their lead and net victory to progress into the next round, and set up an all Mid Essex One contest with Fleet in Round Three at OS Sports and Social Club in around a months time.

Disappointment for Galleywood then who probably did not deserve to lose this one, but poor finishing and other factors meant they were to go out of the competition and now go back to league action for now and see if they can pick up a first win in that, and judging on this performance today it cannot be too far away.

Full time Galleywood Reserves 1 Old Chelmsfordians 'A' 2