Thurlow Nunn First Division South, Saturday 25th October
I was back over at The Hive for the second time this campaign, again to watch Basildon Town, as they took on Enfield Borough in a league clash, and I was there to see what Bas Town were now like under the stewardship of Matt Knight & also to check out Enfield Borough who despite being in the bottom three were probably in a false position.
This is because the visitors had only played seven league games thus far and had several in hand over most other sides in the rest of the division, and the hosts would be wary of them too after some decent results lately including a 4-2 home win over FC Baresi last time out, the hosts themselves were just below mid table and several points above today's opponents (having played five more games) and came into this one off an abandoned contest at Hoddesdon, with Town leading that 1-0 at the break.
Town did get a creditable draw at Stansted before that and their last home game resulted in a 3-1 home win against NW London, the side that had dumped Town out of the Vase under the last management team, that was the last time I was here, so things have certainly changed since that day in late August, but with Borough coming into this off the back of two wins on the bounce, I expected a close contest.
It was to be anything but though, the hosts were the better side in the early exchanges and it was no surprise when they did grab the lead just past the midway point of the first half, a mix up between keeper and defender allowing Mack Polybank to find the net, and then just before the half hour it was two for the hosts when again poor defending allowed a simple diagonal ball to the far post saw Robbie Scanlon steal in unmarked to send a close range finish home.
And six minutes before the break Bas Town had a 3-0 lead when another cross into the box found Jack Hurley who sent a lovely looping header into the far corner, the hosts were so dominant and looked like they could score with every cross they sent into the area, the visitors just could not deal with it, and looked well out of the game as they went into the dressing room at half time.
No doubt they would have had serious word with each other at half time, and briefly after the break it looked as if Borough may mount some sort of comeback when they pulled a goal back six minutes into the second period, a slip from a defender allowed a ball to be squared across box before a nice touch and finish past keeper Joe Durrant reduced the arrears, come back on perhaps?
Well, not really, as five minutes after that another cross into the box saw the ball headed back across goal for skipper Grant Cumming to apply a close range header and send the ball beyond the keeper into the net, another cross that hadn't been dealt with by the visitors and Town were reaping the rewards for sure, they were playing very well too and were in cruise control once again.
The hosts then made a flurry of changes to freshen things up, but then saw Freddie Smyth taken off injured meaning the hosts would have to play the final quarter of the game a man light as they had no more substitutes left, but it didn't make any difference and in fact Town then grabbed a fifth goal with nine minutes remaining when after the visitors shot themselves in the foot again, trying to play out from the back and loosing the ball, allowing one of those subs Abidemi Lamina to thump a powerful effort in off the post and put the hosts 5-1 up. Emphatic.
Borough did manage to score with the final kick of the game deep into added on time when a nice lofted ball over the top of the backline saw an attacker run onto it and finish past Durrant, but it was far to little to late and Bas Town could celebrate a superb win and performance in this one, for Borough it was certainly a day to forget.
Full time Basildon Town 5 Enfield Borough 2
Let's now have a brief look at what happened in the rest of the division's action this weekend and how it affects that league table:-
Cannons Wood 1-3 Burnham Ramblers (Friday)
Lymore Gardens 2-0 Dunmow Town (Friday)
NW London 1-2 Coggeshall Town (Friday)
Clapton Community 1-2 AS London
FC Baresi 2-1 May & Baker
Newbury Forest 4-4 Brimsdown
Rayleigh Town 4-0 Barkingside
There were three Friday night contests ahead of Saturday's fixtures, it was certainly an eventful game at Parkside, Burnham were reduced to ten men inside ten minutes and also had a sin bin soon after, they recovered from this though to net victory against Cannons Wood, leaving the home side second bottom and seeing the visitors two points off the play offs. Lymore Gardens continued their brilliant home form with a 2-0 win over Dunmow Town, it saw the home side go above Newbury Forest and to the top of the table whilst it left Dunmow down in 15th spot. Finally on Friday NW London suffered a rare home defeat as they went down to Coggeshall Town, that result sees The Seedgrowers two points off the play off places whilst NW London are down in 12th.
Onto Saturday and Clapton Community suffered a surprising home defeat to AS London to leave them in fourth and the result saw the visitors into the top ten and six points off the top five, FC Baresi got back to winning ways after last weekend's loss by handing May & Baker another defeat, Baresi are in 11th and also six points off the play off zone, Bakers are down in 14th spot. It was a bonkers game at Oakside as Newbury Forest, who would have gone back top with a win, shared eight goals with fifth placed play off chasing Brimsdown who remain in the top five on goal difference. And finally Rayleigh Town, another side chasing promotion dreams, thumped Barkingside at Thames Road, meaning they 9th and only three points off the top five, whereas Side are just one point and one place above the bottom three.
That completes my latest blog, thanks again for reading and taking the time too, until next time, bye bye for now.....
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