Thurlow Nunn First Division South, Saturday December 21st
The final weekend before the festivities next week saw me back over at The Len Salmon Stadium for the second weekend in succession, but this time it was to watch a Thurlow Nunn South contest between Rayleigh Town & FC Baresi.
Now the game had been moved from Rayleigh's normal home of Concord Rangers Thames Road due to the pitch not being playable or maybe it was just being protected I don't know (Concord's match last weekend was postponed), and with Bowers & Pitsea's 4G surface available, this was chosen as the venue for this game today.
Now Rayleigh came into this one in third spot and seven points ahead of sixth placed AS London, so were well placed inside the top five positions, promotion through the play offs was their most likely route into the next level as Harlow Town were currently running away with the league, they were also seven points adrift of second placed Hackney Wick too, but all they needed to do was keep winning and stay in that play off zone.
Winning was coming aplenty as well for the hosts, thirteen league wins this campaign, and on a run of four straight wins without conceding a goal too, in fact their last loss in the league came back at the start of November so they were in good form for sure, and very consistent, something that could not be said of their opponents who were anything but consistent.
The visitors were down in 13th and came into this one off the back of some very up and down form, three straight defeats including a 5-0 and 8-0 reverse were followed by a win over promotion chasing Hutton, they then lost 3-4 at home to Hoddesdon Town before winning at Newbury Forest, then suffering a 0-3 reverse against today's opposition only two weekends ago, before they then smashed another promotion chasing side in Cannons Wood 7-0 away from home last time out, which FC Baresi side would turn up today?
Rayleigh were hoping they could repeat their success at Wodson Park two weekends ago when Arnold Acheampong, Lewis Risk & Matt Tapley found the net, Baresi were obviously hoping that did not happen, and in very windy and at times soaking wet conditions, which made playing football challenging at times, it was Baresi who probably shaded a goalless first half before they went onto take control in the second period.
Only nine minutes into the second period came the opener, Baresi now having the wind behind them won a corner and saw Ahmed Abdullah curl the ball into the six yard box and see the wind take it and catch out hosts keeper Josh Hudson and sail into the far corner and give the visitors a more than deserved lead.
They were the side looking most likely to net another and add to their lead as well, Hudson had to save well from Junior Appiah before the brilliant Jerrell Cato, who had been a constant thorn down the left for the hosts all afternoon, fired over when in a good position, these misses were not to cost them though.
Corners were an issue for the hosts in the second period with the wind blowing hard towards their own goal, one had already gone in, another had almost crept in at the near post, and another had glanced off the bar, well, history would repeat itself in the 86th minute when Abdullah curled another corner in from the left and this time found it's way in at the near post via a glance of a defenders head, two goals direct from corners in one half, when was the last time that happened?
It meant Baresi could see out the remainder of the contest and pick up back to back wins without conceding a goal, some consistency at last perhaps, it was certainly a brilliant performance and a deserved three points for the visiting team, not what you could say for a Rayleigh side who struggled to get going today and were below par in many aspects of their game, it certainly wasn't up to the standards they normally set, an off day you could say.
The hosts remain third though and still in a great position in their first ever season as a senior club, Baresi go up a place to 12th and are only two points off a top ten position, and considering the start they made to their first ever season at this level, that's a pretty good recovery and they have plenty to be excited about if they can churn out these sorts of performances on a regular basis.
Full time Rayleigh Town 0 FC Baresi 2
There were four other games that took place in the division this weekend, let's see how those went and how it affected the table heading into Christmas:-
Friday December 20th
Basildon Town 0 Cannons Wood 1
Saturday December 21st
Hutton 4 Barkingside 2
Southend Manor 3 Burnham Ramblers 3
St Margaretsbury 0 Hackney Wick 2
Cannons Wood bounced back from a horrific result last weekend by grabbing a battling 1-0 win at Bas Town to open up a four point lead to sixth place, Hutton also recorded an important win over Barkingside to climb back over Cannons Wood to take back fourth place and increase that gap to sixth themselves, Barkingside are now just a point above the drop zone.
This is because third bottom Burnham Ramblers picked up a point in a six goal thriller at Southchurch Park against Southend Manor, Manor are only three points above the drop zone in what is a very tight bottom half of the division, St Mags remain well adrift at the foot of the table after they lost at home to Hackney Wick who closed the gap to leaders Harlow with the points, six behind now with a game in hand.
You do feel it's Harlow's league to lose now, but no doubt Wick will keep up the chase, you feel nobody else will catch them now though, the play off race could become interesting though so that is something to keep an eye on, down at the bottom apart from St Mags, their are several sides who are in a battle to stay out of those bottom three places, this division is once again proving very competitive and unpredictable, just how we like it!!!
Anyway thanks for reading, and I wish you all a very merry Christmas, stay safe and enjoy your festive celebrations.....
No comments:
Post a Comment