Essex Senior League, Tuesday 29th September 2020
Game two of midweek saw me make my shortest trip possible as
I made the less than ten-minute stroll across Southchurch Park for Southend
Manor Vs Sporting Bengal United in an Essex Senior League contest.
Manor so far this season have done ok, with two wins, one
them being away at Walthamstow no less, and two losses, both heavy losses too
against Sawbridgeworth Town on the opening day and at the weekend against a
very good Stansted side, so this game against Sporting would be one they would
hope to grab a third win to keep them in the top ten.
Their visitors though have produced some remarkable
comebacks already this campaign and their only win in the league was one such
occasion when they came from 2-0 down at Redbridge to win 3-2 with two stoppage
time goals, so they definitely have character about them so would prove a very
tough side to play against, and so they were looking for their second win in
the league in this one.
And Sporting knew a win could see them end the week in the
top ten themselves, such is how a league table shapes up early doors, but
indeed if results did go both sides way, a win for either could see them rise
as high as fourth in the standings, heady heights indeed for these two.
The visitors preparation wasn’t helped after four of their
starting eleven got stuck in traffic meaning they only arrived minutes before
kick off so the game was delayed and didn’t kick of till 20.04, almost twenty
minutes after the original kick off time.
Whether this had a detrimental effect on Sporting, who
knows, but they were second best for much of the first half and although they
did have a couple of moments in attack, Manor were the ones doing most of the
pressing, and their two best openings saw an effort deflected wide from twelve
yards, and a header over from point blank range at the back post.
But, with six minutes of the half remaining came the opening
goal for the hosts which was deserved, but there was a huge slice of luck
involved in it too, as after Ben Adams had laid a ball across to full back
Billy Harrison, the latter’s first time effort took a huge bounce in front of
keeper Ferreira Aires and ended up in the top corner. It may have been lucky, but they all count,
and Manor at least had some sort of lead at the break after a decent first half
showing.
Half Time Southend Manor 1 Sporting Bengal United 0
Sporting certainly upped it a bit in the second half initially
as they tried to find a leveller in this one, although Manor probably had the
best chance early in the period but blazed high over the bar, but the hosts
defended well whenever they were tested.
On 67 minutes Manor doubled their lead to make it a bit more
comfortable though, when Allen, who was superb throughout, did brilliantly to
get down the right, not for the first time, and his ball across the box found
its way through to Jordan Thomas at the back post who applied the finish and
hand the hosts a two goal cushion.
Thereafter the home side tried to apply game management to
the contest, keeping the visitors at arm’s length and restricting them to long
range efforts which were comfortably dealt with by keeper Michael Acquah, but
they always had this one in control and never really looked in danger of one of
those Sporting comebacks we have seen twice so far this season.
A good win for Manor then, and that is now three wins in
their last four league outings which sees them rise to sixth spot, a start I
didn’t expect from them before the season, so I applaud them for that, whilst
for Sporting, they were not really on it this evening and it was a disappointing
night for them on the whole. They have
now lost three of their five games now and sit down in 15th.
As I walked away from the ground across the park back home
you could hear the Manor boys singing away in the changing room, they were very
happy to pick up another win, and the atmosphere at the club and the team
spirit seems good, so that can only be a good thing for them going
forward. Nice to see at my local club
who I care for very much indeed. They
even had sky sports in the clubhouse, who would have thought it hey!!!
Full Time Southend Manor 2 Sporting Bengal United 0
No comments:
Post a Comment