White Ensign 0 Takeley 5

Essex Senior League, Saturday October 1st

Saturday saw me over at Burroughs Park on a beautiful October afternoon, and saw an own goal from Ollie Jenkins plus strikes from Glenn O'Hanlon, Jordan Westcott, Hodje Almeida-Joaquim and Lewis Deamer help Takeley to a comfortable win over White Ensign in an Essex Senior League contest.

Ensign had only played four league games thus far this season, but had won two of those games, the latest being at local rivals Southend Manor, so not a bad start from them in a season where they had to pretty much start from scratch in terms of squad, a squad that was certainly taking shape and only being added too with more quality, and they were up against a Takeley side who had not begun the season that well.

The visitors had lost five of their seven league games so far and were just above the bottom three in the division, unheard of in Marc Das's time as boss, we are so used to seeing his sides battle towards the other end of the league table, but it certainly was not the case as the season entered October.

It was the home side who began brightly and saw Charlie Portway head over a decent opening, however, that was to be one of a very few openings the hosts would have in the entire game as Takeley after a slow start began to take the initiative and carve out the better openings, with one such chance being saved well by the legs of hosts keeper Adam Seal.

Eight minutes before half time though Takeley got their noses in front, and it came in fortuitous circumstances, as a cross into the six yard box saw keeper Seal attempt to punch clear, but in doing so punched the ball onto his own defender Jenkins and see it go into the net, and two minutes after that Takeley added a quick second when skipper O'Hanlon was given time to swivel and fire home from inside the box, and it meant the visitors had a two goal cushion going into the break.

Could Ensign recover from this double set back? Sadly for them, not really, as Takeley took complete control of the contest just before the hour mark when a beautiful ball in from the left by George Wappett found Westcott who guided a lovely deft header into the bottom corner of the hosts net, and the contest was as good as over by that point.

Both sides made a few changes as the game drifted towards it's final stages, and Takeley's changes gave them more energy it seemed as the hosts seemed to tire in the latter stages, and they were breached twice more before the end, firstly when Takeley added a fourth with five minutes remaining as one of those substitutes, Almeida-Joaquim, was played in on goal, and he applied a lovely finish into the far corner.

And just three minutes after that another substitute, Lewis Deamer, got in behind the hosts backline to fire an effort which squeezed through Seal's grasp and trickled over the line, and complete a decent day's work for the visiting side.

The result sees the hosts drop to where Takeley were prior to kick off, 17th, and just above the bottom three, whereas Takeley themselves climb up to 14th and just two points off the top ten after their third win of the season, and both face each other again in the league next weekend, so a quick rematch for them both, be interesting to see how that one pans out.

Full time White Ensign 0 Takeley 5