Essex Senior League, Tuesday 9th April
I decided to pop over to Burroughs Park and check out FA Vase Semi Finalists Great Wakering Rovers in their latest Essex Senior League match, and on this occasion they welcomed local South Essex rivals Hullbridge Sports in one of their many games in hand mainly due to their special Vase run they were still on as they looked to make it an all ESL final against Romford at Wembley Stadium.
This game came into between the two semi final legs against Worcester City, they had lost the first leg 1-0 at the weekend so was all to play for in the coming second leg at the weekend with a sell out crowd of around 1,400 expected at Burroughs Park for that one, tonight their was around 100 for the bread and butter of the league, and an expected tough assignment against a local rival.
Obviously GWR's Vase run had taken up a lot of the clubs efforts, and their league form had suffered somewhat as a result, March had seen three straight defeats in the league against Little Oakley, Romford & Stanway Rovers, before they netted back to back wins against Frenford to get back on track and get their play off charge back on track, they started this one in 12th spot, thirteen points off Sporting Bengal United in fifth, with no less than six games in hand.
Their were two ex-Sporting staff amongst the Hullbridge side as well, winger/striker Sherri Artmeladze was in the visiting line up and assistant Matty G was on the side-line, both had moved to Bridge from Sporting a couple of months ago or so and could do their old club a favour here and take points off the hosts and make it harder for them to catch Sporting in that final play off spot.
Bridge themselves can no longer reach the play offs and are down in eleventh spot with just three games left in the season, this largely due to an awful run of form which has seen them lose their last four games without scoring a single goal, and too much inconsistency during the season has ultimately cost them a chance of making the post season play offs, it would be interesting to see what sort of GWR side they would be up against considering the hosts do have a rather big match coming up at the weekend.
Bridge had not actually scored in five games in all comps lately, but it took them less than two minutes to score in this one, as with their first real attack Artmeladze did well on the left hand side before sending a cross into the box and found Jon Evans who took a touch and volleyed a wonderful effort into the top corner, catching GWR cold.
The visitors though could only hold that lead for four minutes as GWR levelled with six minutes on the clock as Harry Talbot did well down the left, and he squared a ball to Dom Locke who applied a lovely finish and level the game up, it had been a decent start to the contest that was for sure!!!
The visitors created the better openings in the remainder of the half but could not capitalise on their openings, not for the first time this season it has to be said, and they were punished for this three minutes before the break when Jake Gordon, on for the injured Hafeez Elegushi, found himself with his back to goal on the far side, and he swivelled and fired a cross into the box, but saw it sail over keeper Bradley Davison and perfectly into the far corner, there is no way he meant to do that, but it didn't matter and it meant the hosts found themselves ahead at the break.
And just like Hullbridge had caught GWR cold at the start of the game, the hosts returned the favour barely two minutes into the second period by making it 3-1 when centre half Harrison Topliss glanced a header into the far corner, not the start the visitors were looking for in the second period, and no doubt their half time team talk totally out of the window.
Thereafter Hullbridge continued to miss openings as they looked for a route back into the game, and the hosts were playing on the counter and trying to punish the visitors for pushing men forward in search of that route back into the game, had the visitors taken some of their chances then it could have been a different outcome, but the hosts were looking dangerous when they countered, and with twelve minutes left they did find a fourth to seal this one, substitute Tony Martin bursting through to round keeper Davison before slotting home and give the GWR fans behind the goal more to cheer.
The scoreline was probably a bit harsh on the visitors, it certainly wasn't a 4-1 game, but a combination of missed chances and lack of concentration at times at the back ended up costing them here, and the hosts were clinical too and showed why they still had a chance at reaching the play offs unlike their opponents this evening, GWR climb five places to seventh and are ten points off the top five with five games in hand. They will be hoping for a place at Wembley and Vase success plus a chance of promotion too, a pretty special season could be really special if things go to plan.
Full time Great Wakering Rovers 4 Hullbridge Sports 1
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