Pre Season Friendly, Tuesday 25th July
My final PSF prior to the 2023/24 season saw me pop over to Bridge Avenue in Upminster for a contest between Isthmian Premier side Hornchurch and Vanarama National South side Braintree Town as both sides enter their final preparations as the new season draws nearer and nearer.
This could easily have been a league fixture this season, The Urchins suffered play off final heartbreak at home for the second consecutive season at the end of the last campaign, losing out to Aveley in front of 3,000 at Bridge Avenue, it was a season where promotion at one stage looked nailed on as they spent the majority in the automatic places, but nothing is nailed on in football and so they must try and make it third time luckily this campaign.
The Iron had a pretty decent season last time around, they managed to finish seventh and make the playoffs, although they lost at Worthing in the eliminator, and also won the Essex Senior Cup for the first time in their history after defeating Concord Rangers at Colchester United's Community Stadium, and after their struggles in previous season's, it was certainly a step forward for the club.
This contest as it turned out though was not very memorable, the first half saw barely any chances of note, the only clear cut one fell to the hosts when Sam Higgins sent a close range header over the bar, and the only other shot at goal also came from the hosts when George Saunders fired over from a difficult angle, but truth be told it was a forgettable half.
The second half wasn't much better although there were a touch more chances, well just about anyway, Tom Wraight should have netted for the hosts but somehow sent his header wide of the target following a good cross from Saunders, Wraight had been booked prior to this for a foul on John White which certainly annoyed the visitors. The foot was high and slightly dangerous so a yellow card was the correct outcome. Their certainly had been some physical challenges in this contest, which I don't mind as shows the commitment from both sides.
The visitors only shot on goal I can remember came from their centre forward Nnamdi Nwachuku, who fired an effort goal wards although it seemed to take a slight nick off a defender before the host keeper Joe Wright claimed with relative ease, and moments after this The Urchins saw Liam Nash stun the palms of visiting keeper Jack Sims who had looked pretty impressive during the contest.
A scramble inside the hosts box resulted in nothing ultimately and that was about it for excitement in the contest which was well contested but resulted in both defences coming out on top in a goalless draw but more minutes in the legs of both sides. Both clubs conclude their pre season work in the next week or so before the real stuff begins.
Full time Hornchurch 0 Braintree Town 0
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