Hashtag United 1 Felixstowe & Walton United 0

Isthmian One North, Saturday 18th March

I was over at The Len Salmon Stadium to see if runaway Isthmian North leaders Hashtag United could continue their charge towards the title, and thanks to an 84^th minute winner from Jermaine Francis they made it TWENTY ONE straight wins after a very hard fought contest against Felixstowe & Walton United, taking them three points closer to promotion in the process.

It’s been an incredible season the The Tags that’s for sure, they sit nine points clear at the summit of the Isthmian North table and require thirteen more points from their remaining seven games to confirm promotion to the Isthmian Premier, and their form has been unbelievable too, they have won TWENTY, YES TWENTY games in a row, which is an incredible run at any level of football.

The last time they tasted defeat, apart from a penalty shoot out defeat to Canvey Island in the County Cup at the end of November was back on Tuesday November 8^th when they lost to their closest rivals AFC Sudbury 4-2, so it’s been a while you could say, and they have since beaten them at home in their incredible winning run stretching over the last four months.

Their home form is pretty much perfect, they have only dropped two points in the entire campaign at The Len Salmon, that’s fourteen wins and a draw in their fifteen games at home, but they have had to work very hard in some of those games for sure and today’s contest was sure to be tough as they welcomed a Felixstowe & Walton United side to their shores who had handed Hashtag a 4-0 defeat back in October, one of only three defeats in the league for The Tags all season.

Felixstowe are currently embroiled in a tussle for a play off spot, they sit in fourth spot but with only five points between themselves and seventh placed Heybridge Swifts, the last two play off spots were certainly up for grabs amongst those four sides (Stowmarket Town and Grays Athletic being the other two) as realistically the top three were well clear of the rest, so this was an very important game for the visitors too in their quest for promotion.

Their form of late has been mixed though, February & March saw them defeat struggling Hullbridge, Great Wakering Rovers and mid table Maldon & Tiptree, however defeats against fellow promotion rivals AFC Sudbury & Lowestoft Town plus defeat against New Salamis saw their play off spot under threat, but a huge win over Grays Athletic last time out certainly got them back on track and heading into this contest with some renewed confidence.

This was going to be a tough one though against a Hashtag side who are a mammoth twenty-four points ahead of their opponents, but as said before, the visitors can draw on that match back in October when they handed out The Tags their heaviest defeat of the entire campaign, although that was over four months ago now!!! Could The Tags make it twenty-one straight wins and take themselves three points closer to the title, or could Felixstowe grab a season double over their opponents and strengthen their play off chances at the same time. Let’s find out…..

The Tags began quickly and wanted to stamp their authority on this contest as quickly as they could, and the trio of Wyan Reid, Francis and Toby Aromolaran down the right hand side were certainly keeping the visiting defence on their toes, but they stood firm against the early pressure from the league leaders and began to settle into the contest.

Their was a decent tempo to the contest too, and although Hashtag had the majority of the ball in the first period they were not really able to test visiting keeper Callum Robinson as much as they would have liked, and in fact the visitors defended really well and made it very tough for their opponents, and you could sense the tension, and frustration amongst the players as the half went on, it felt like a very big game towards the end of a season, with both sides knowing how big a win would be.

The second period saw the Tags again have more of the ball, and they did see an effort clip off the bar and another chance blocked on route to goal as they desperately searched for a breakthrough, the visitors in turn did have a good spell in the second period themselves and were also very resolute in defence, and did at time put some dangerous crosses into the box which The Tags had to deal with, although keeper James Philp didn’t have much to do.

The Seasiders, backed by a healthy contingent from Suffolk, continued to frustrate their opponents and defend very well and really put in a shift for their side, but as the game headed into the final quarter, they began to slow the game down as a point was more than acceptable in their eyes, especially against a side who had been winning for the last four months.

This ‘time wasting’ came to a head though in the 83^rd minute when visiting full back Stuart Ainsley was shown a second yellow for taking too long to take a throw on right in front of his bench, which really angered the visitors who surrounded the referee as they thought it was more than harsh, but the referee’s decision had been made, could Hashtag take advantage of this extra man for the remaining minutes in the contest?

Well, with the visitors still reeling from that red card, Hashtag burst down the other end barely a minute later and saw MOTM Reid square a ball in from the right and found Francis who thumped home from close range to send the Tags fans behind the goal wild, it was a big goal, a goal that never looked like coming in what was fast becoming one of those days for The Tags until that moment.

Things seemed to be unravelling for the visitors as well as after the goal and before kick off Callum Harrison was also shown a second yellow after he was obviously still angry with the sending off of his teammate, meaning the visitors were now down to nine men, not how they wanted to end this contest that was for sure.

And with The Tags comfortably seeing out the remaining minutes of the contest, they picked up win number TWENTY ONE in a row and brought themselves three points closer to that league title and automatic promotion to Step Three of the non-league pyramid, they were given a big round of applause off the pitch by their fans, it had not been a vintage performance but three points was all that mattered at the end of the day,

The visitors were also given a big hand by their supporters too, they had given their all in this one but sadly for them they could not complete the job and they are very much in a battle for those play off places heading into the final few weeks of the season.

Full time Hashtag United 1 Felixstowe & Walton United 0

 

Let’s have a look to see what else went on in the division on Saturday…..

AFC Sudbury 5 Basildon United 0 (Second placed AFC Sudbury netted four in the final half hour as the visitors crumbled in the final part of the contest. Nwachuku’s early penalty was the difference for a good hour until he netted twice in three minutes midway through the second half, and then late goals from Hassan and Mayhew completed the rout)

Gorleston 1 East Thurrock United 0 (Keys 8^th minute goal was enough to hand Norfolk side Gorleston all three points at home to East Thurrock United)

Grays Athletic 2 Lowestoft Town 1 (Play off chasing Grays netted a huge home victory over third placed Lowestoft Town, Osei-babie’s 18^th minute goal had the hosts ahead at the break and then Bantick’s 77^th minute goal doubled their lead, and although a late Hipperson penalty brought the visitors back into it, Grays held on for a big win)

Great Wakering Rovers 1 Stowmarket Town 4 (Suffolk side Stowmarket netted four at Burroughs Park to see of Great Wakering Rovers. Jefford gave the visitors the lead just past the half hour mark before they doubled their lead right on half time through Ainsley. Moriarty gave the hosts hope in the 58^th minute but Sayer and Sloots netted in the final twenty minutes to see the visitors take a comfortable win)

Hullbridge Sports P-P Bury Town (The match at Lower Road was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch)

Maldon & Tiptree 1 Coggeshall Town 1 (The spoils were shared at Park Lane, Finneran had given Maldon the lead six minutes after the break, but the visitors grabbed a point when Kithambo levelled with just over twenty minutes to go)

Tilbury 0 Heybridge Swifts 1 (Price’s first minute goal ended up being enough to see Heybridge keep their charge for the play offs well and truly going with victory over Tilbury at Chadfields)

Witham Town P-P Brentwood Town (The match at Spa Road was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch)

Wroxham P-P New Salamis (The match at Trafford Park was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch)

 

And let’s see how all those results affect the table…..

Hashtag’s late win over Felixstowe saw them remain nine clear of second placed AFC Sudbury, meaning the Essex side need just ten more points from their remaining six games to clinch the title and promotion, whereas Sudbury now have an eight point cushion to third after they won and Lowestoft lost, although both sides should be in the play offs whatever happens now until the end of the season.

Felixstowe’s late loss at the league leaders has seen their play-off chances take a hit as they dropped two places and outside the top five after both Stowmarket and Gray’s leapfrogged them after wins today, and with Heybridge also winning it wasn’t a great day for the Seasiders, with them now really in a battle to grab one of those final two top five positions.

Down at the bottom and Hullbridge sunk to the bottom on goal difference after their game was postponed and Coggeshall grabbed a point, in fact Coggeshall were the only bottom four side to pick up any points after both Tilbury and Great Wakering Rovers both lost, giving the bottom two hope they can still get themselves out of the automatic relegation spots, there is only four points between them all so that should be tight.

Gorleston’s win took themselves nine clear of the bottom four places in what was  big win for them, they can breathe easier now, as can Maldon who picked up a point too to go eight clear, Witham Town are still five clear even though they were not in action today.

 

Anyway that completes my blog for today, thanks as ever for reading, it’s always appreciated…..