Catholic United 3 Rayleigh Town 1

Essex Olympian League Premier Division, Saturday 31st October 2020 

Saturday saw me over at The Len Forge Centre for an Essex Olympian League Premier Division local derby between Catholic United and Rayleigh Town, and it saw a Brad Rowland double help the hosts to a dominant win and go third in the division.

Catholic had come into this one having ended a run of back to back defeats with a morale boosting win at bottom side Kelvedon Hatch last weekend, whilst Rayleigh had also netted a decent win against Sungate last time out, this after a disappointing loss at home to in form Hutton, so both were feeling confident ahead of this derby game.

The hosts knew they could end the day third with a win, whilst Rayleigh knew three points would see them climb further away from the relegation spots, they were only three points above the bottom two at kick off, so knew three points would certainly help and could also see them climb into mid table too.

It was the hosts though who flew out of the traps though and created some really good openings in the first ten minutes, and in the 13^th minute there early pressure finally told when a lovely cross from Rowland found Mike Sammut who sent a header into the bottom corner and Catholic had a deserved lead.

The hosts continued to dominate and create chances, but either poor finishing or Rayleigh keeper Josh Hudson, who made three brilliant stops in the first half, thwarted the home side from putting this game out of sight by half time, and although the visitors did see an effort well tipped round the post by Lewis Godwin-Green and another close range effort from Bailey Moss blocked by Max Kent, they were second best in this one.

But, despite all this the hosts only had a one goal lead to take into the half time break, and although they had dominated and were playing well, the one disappointment for them would have been not taking more of their chances, and they knew Rayleigh were still well in this contest whilst it was only 1-0.

Half Time Catholic United 1 Rayleigh Town 0

It was as you were in the second period early on too, with Catholic continuing to create chances and dominate proceedings, but again they found visiting keeper Hudson in top form as he continued to keep the hosts out, and you felt that maybe the home side would pay for all these missed chances if Rayleigh managed to have a good spell and possibly peg them back.

It didn’t happen though as ten minutes into the second period the hosts did double their lead finally when a lovely diagonal pass from Kent found the brilliant Rowland who drilled an effort across Hudson into the far corner, and finally the home side had some breathing space.

Both teams made a number of changes on the hour mark to freshen things up, Catholic probably to give some other players minutes whilst Rayleigh were trying to change things up to try and get back into a game they had barely been in it has to be said.

One of those Catholic changes saw Rhys Fatt enter the fray, and the pacey forward would turn assistant to their third goal twenty minutes into the second period as he squared for Rowland to side foot an effort beyond Hudson and into the net for his second and the hosts now had a three-goal cushion.

Catholic momentarily fell asleep after that third goal and saw the visitors pull one back two minutes later when a ball in from the left by Ben Baxter saw Moss finish from close range, and maybe provided the visitors a slim hope of an unlikely route back into the game, and for a few minutes the visitors did enjoy their best spell, albeit the hosts still looked fairly comfortable.

But in all honestly a comeback never really looked on the cards, and the hosts cruised to a dominant win against their local rivals.  Had it not been for Rayleigh keeper Hudson, who made several decent saves, this could have been embarrassing for the visitors.  He was probably their man of the match for sure.

The hosts man of the match in my view was Rowland, a superb cross for the opening goal and then two goals for himself thereafter certainly capped a fine performance up front, and playing up top with the very experienced Aaron Baldwin certainly will help the striker improve his game that is for sure.

Baldwin himself, who had chances but found Hudson in his way every time, also had a decent game, he really does lead the line well and is and always has been a hardworking player, although as I said to him afterwards he wouldn’t have scored if he had played until tomorrow, it was just one of those days!!!  But he put in a pretty good shift that was for sure!!!

A good three points for Catholic then, and they climb up to third in the standings, whilst for Rayleigh it’s a fourth defeat in six league games now and they remain fourth bottom and now just two points above the bottom two after Kelvedon Hatch won against Canning Town.  Still early days though.

Full Time Catholic United 3 Rayleigh Town 1