Wakebury 4 White Ensign Reserves 1

Pre Season Friendly, Wednesday 12th August 2020 

Pre-Season number seven prior to the 20/21 season saw me over at the Basildon Post Office ground for what was last season an Essex Olympian Division Three fixture as Wakebury took on White Ensign Reserves.

The post office ground has a very nice clubhouse which has all the markings down on the floor where you can and can’t go, and hand sanitizer as you walk in and also a lovely garden to sit in and watch the football from a distance if you so wish.  They also took you name and number for the track and trace system, so all is in place there and proof again things are safe.

Back to the football anyway and last season was Wakebury’s first at this level and led by Matt Cardy and Dan ‘D-Man’ Blewett (who I shared a car with too and from the game this evening which was good fun, thanks Dan for driving me there and back!!!) they were arguably the league’s most entertaining side having netted almost three goals a game in their nineteen league encounters, and they sat second behind leaders ACD United when the season was cut short.

And like ACD United, who I covered at Harold Wood Athletic the night before, they were most likely denied promotion to the next step, so they would have been looking to have another solid season and hoping to grab that promotion this time around.

In contrast Ensign Reserves struggled and were second from bottom in the table when the league was ended early, having conceded the most goals in the division to boot, 53 in their eighteen games, but with the side now moving over to the Essex Senior League Reserves Division and under the continued stewardship of Jack Caten, I am sure they will do all they can to improve this campaign.

Wakebury had got the better of Ensign in both their meetings in Division Three last season, and ‘The Berries’ were expected to do the same here, and after thumping a close range header against the bar, they took a fourth minute lead when Buglione cut inside onto his right foot before firing an effort beyond the keeper.

And just four minutes later Wakebury had a second when a wonderful pass from Kateley into the path of Buglione saw the latter send a finish in off the post, and Wakebury had a superb start to this one.

Buglione’s joy soon turned to pain though as after he stretched to win back the ball, this was hit against his foot and resulted in a rather painful blow to his left foot, which saw him carried off the pitch.  Hopefully, it is not too serious, and he will be back before the season begins because he had produced two decent finishes early on in this one.

The game was being played in a competitive spirit and sometimes frustrations got the better of some, and one Ensign player annoyed at the referee after his side one a free kick but saw no further punishment, showed dissent towards the referee and was sent to the ‘sin bin’ for ten.

And this proved costly as two minutes after that Wakebury added a third as a lovely corner from skipper Gore ( I had to add this in as he wasn’t best pleased I hadn’t added him in the original tweet!!!) found the head of Bonham-Dare whose header found the far corner and a third for ‘The Berries’.

Things then got a little more heated in the latter part of the half, Wakebury not happy with some of the treatment their players were getting whilst Ensign were frustrated with the referee, and it almost boiled over at one point after another coming together, but thankfully this was all calmed down.  It was certainly competitive in that sense!!!

But the half time break came and Wakebury had a three goal lead and it had been a good half from them, a half that saw the yellow cards and a sin bin…… their was a lot of committed folk playing in this one.

Half Time Wakebury 3 White Ensign Reserves 0

Ensign had started to show some life towards the end of the first period, and they carried this on in the early part of the second period too, but the full back who had been sin binned in the first period found himself in trouble twelve minutes after the restart when he took offence to a challenge from Bonham-Dare and squared up to him.

The referee looked like he was going to send off the player, but after thinking about it and one of the Ensign folk coming on to chat to the referee he decided to book him but ask him to leave the field and be substituted, so I think common sense prevailed in the end.  No point playing with ten men in a friendly after all.

Five minutes after that ‘The Berries’ added a fourth when brilliant work down the left from the tiresome and hard working Bonham-Dare saw him cross to the near post where the equally brilliant Kateley was on hand to fire a first time effort inside the near post

Ensign to their credit were much improved in the second period though and forced Druce (although hilariously I called him Bruce on twitter!!!) into making a couple of decent stops either side of the Wakebury fourth goal, .and with eighteen minutes left got a deserved goal for their second half endeavours when a ball squared back across the box was fired in to the far corner via the hand of Druce.

Wakebury though did have chances towards the end to add more, but it was a decent workout for both in the end in a game which at times was feisty but after that initial spell either side of the break calmed down somewhat in that department as both teams looked to play some decent football.

So, a very enjoyable evening catching up with some familiar faces and sharing a beer with Matt and Dan afterwards (which I paid for to thank them for the lift and thank them for making the evening possible, oh and Dan had a Coke as he was driving!!!) and talk local football and the like.  This is what I love about local football!!!

Full Time Wakebury 4 White Ensign Reserves 1