Essex Olympian League Premier Division, Saturday 16th March
I was over at Belfairs Park on the outskirts of Southend for an Olympian Premier match up between to local rivals, hosts Leigh Ramblers welcoming Rayleigh Town down the A127 to their surroundings on what originally was a lovely warm sunny day (although the sun then went in and the wind picked up, so I was very glad to be in my coat!!!)
Conditions were at least dry and the pitch wasn't in too bad condition considering all the rain that had fallen over the last few weeks and months, it was a little sticky and the grass perhaps a tad to long, but it was the same for both sides and I have definitely seen worse at higher levels, so not bad overall, and I also got a lovely welcome too and I appreciated the drink that club president Paul Cannon bought for me after the game, it's very much appreciated, as was the other drink Town assistant Jason Davis bought for me after the game too. It's as well I had these afterwards otherwise I may have struggled to concentrate on the game!!!
Now Leigh Ramblers had been in a rather difficult position prior to Christmas/New Year down towards the bottom of the division, but since then they had picked up somewhat as after they lost in early January at home to Springfield, they had gone on a decent run which saw them pick up eight points in their five league outings and only one league defeat in five too, that was a narrow 1-0 loss at Catholic United.
It meant they had put some daylight between themselves and the bottom two, they were in tenth, with nine points down to second bottom Harold Wood Athletic, assuming two go down of course, which may not be the case anyway, and their gap to bottom side Canning Town was ten points, and with only a few weeks of the season to go, the Rams could now start to breathe a bit easier.
Today's task was a tough one though, especially as the hosts were missing some key players, the spine of their team if truth be told, and they were up against arguably the best side in the division this season in the shape of Rayleigh Town who had just seen a twenty three match winning streak end in the cup last weekend, but in the league they were still on a thirteen match winning run, having won sixteen of their seventeen games, and losing just one all season.
They came into this one having reached the Essex Premier Cup final the week before, and they were four points behind leaders Old Southendian with four games in hand, and with OS not in action this weekend, that lead would be cut to just a single point with a win, and they would also maintain a four point gap back to third placed Sungate, their only challengers for promotion, having played a game less too, therefore maximum points was certainly the aim in this one.
Despite the sides differing positions in the league though this was a derby and Rayleigh are everyone's cup final right now, and Leigh Rams would make it a very difficult game for sure, and that was exactly how it panned out too, the visitors said afterwards they were very poor in the first forty five minutes and the hosts were making things very difficult for them, and in a half of few chances it probably wasn't the best spectacle either, but in some ways I enjoyed the battle and the tussles across the pitch between two committed sides.
Rayleigh to me looked nervy, especially first half, and you could see the frustrations growing amongst them two, especially from player manager and centre half Rob Hogdson, who was less than impressed with a number of his side on more than one occasion, and their mood was not helped when Rams took a surprise lead right on half time when a ball found an unmarked James Spencer who sent a header back across goal, glance off a defender, and creep inside the far post.
Now the linesman had raised his flag, but after the referee had spoken with him, the goal was given, which seemed the right call in the end, neither side moaned about it once it had been given, and Rayleigh trudged into the dressing room a goal down and certainly with some things to sort out, Rams would have been delighted with how it was all going so far, a goal up against the promotion chasers, was the visitors long winning streak coming to an end?
The early parts of the second period saw the visitors applying more pressure onto the hosts but they were standing up to everything that was thrown at them, it was one hell of a shift they were putting in, and it was adding to the visitors frustration, and then with a rare attack in the second period the hosts so nearly doubled their lead which could have ended this contest, it was superb skill and play from Luis Bracci, he turned his marker inside out before sending an effort at goal which deflected off a defender and came back off the post and was hacked clear, it was so close and had that gone in things may have turned out differently. Sometimes you need a bit of luck to win championships and promotion, and Rayleigh got one their.
They certainly capitalised on this good fortune as well as the final twenty minutes saw the promotion chasers turn the match around, firstly with eighteen minutes to go when Owen Barratt, on as a substitute, play a pass out to the dangerous Arnold Achempong who then sent a ball across the edge of the box for Matt Tapley to run onto and fire home a leveller, and after this went in you felt their would only be one winner.
Rams did their best to hang on, but they were running out of puff after such a hard shift, and with seven minutes to go a ball in from the right found it's way to the far post where another substitute Adam Wright managed to convert from close range to give the visitors the lead, and then two minutes into stoppage time a loose ball back from the visitors saw a third substitute, Gianni Frankis, run onto the ball, cut inside onto his left foot, beating a defender in the process, before firing home to seal what was a hard earned win for the visiting side.
Rayleigh had made hard work of this win for sure, but after a poor first half showing they managed to dig in and show character to come back and win this one in the end, hard on Rams who worked so hard for each other, but in the end they just did not have enough to keep the promotion chasers at bay, a very good battle it was though, played in a good spirit too.
Full time Leigh Ramblers 1 Rayleigh Town 3
Let's see what else happened in the division today and what it does to the table, their were four other league games which included Rayleigh's promotion rivals Sungate in action too:-
Old Chelmsfordians 3-0 Bishop's Stortford Swifts
Springfield 0-0 Kelvedon Hatch
Sungate 4-2 Harold Wood Athletic
Toby 4-0 Canning Town
Rayleigh close the gap to leaders Old Southendian, it's just one point now and Rayleigh have three games in hand, they only need to finish above Sungate to win promotion to Step Six and Senior football for the first time, Sungate themselves remain four behind having played a game more with victory over strugglers Harold Wood Athletic, who are seven points behind third bottom Toby now after they thrashed bottom side Canning Town. Old Chelmsfordians climb to fifth after they netted a home win over Bishop's Stortford Swifts, whilst Springfield & Kelvedon hatch drew a blank in Chelmsford.
Now the bottom two normally go down, and if that is the case then those two occupying it have some work to do to get out of it, but if it is only one to go down then one of those two will survive, and with Wood having several games in hand you would probably say it would be them and not Canning Town who will survive, but it does seem the ones above may have enough to stay up now, although stranger things have happened of course!!!
Promotion and the title though is still in Rayleigh's hands, fourteen straight league wins now but with Old Southendian and Sungate to come at home before the season is out, it's not over just yet, still a lot of work and blood sweat and tears to come before they can achieve that, should be fun to follow!!!
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