Rayleigh Town 1 Hutton 3

Essex Olympian League Premier Division, Saturday 17th October 2020 

My first game on Saturday saw me over at London Road and Rayleigh Town Sports & Social Club for an Essex Olympian Premier Division contest between Rayleigh Town and Hutton, and it saw a second half double from substitute Sean O’Callaghan help secure the points for the visitors.

Now the hosts had not started the season particularly well, losing two of their opening three games, although saying that both losses had only been by the odd goal at Springfield and title favourites Buckhurst Hill, so both could have gone either way, and the only win in the league came at Old Southendian in a 1-0 success.

Town had also netted five in their last game two weeks ago as they defeated Senior Three side Lakeside United in the Senior League Cup, last weekend’s game at Kelvedon Hatch had been postponed, hence the two week gap, so they would have been raring to go no doubt.

Hutton were having a mixed start to the season, with one win (at Harold Wood Last time out), two draws (at Catholic United and home to Sungate) and the one defeat on the opening weekend at home to Basildon Town, who have won all their games so far, and were two points above today’s opponents at the start of play.

So would the two week break for Rayleigh Town see them come into this one with the freshness of having a little break and also bringing the confidence of that big cup win last time out, or would it hinder them as they did not have that match sharpness after a two week break? Or would Hutton be at an advantage having played last weekend and also grabbed their first win in the process, seeing them come into this one with confidence?

Many questions then but those were answered in the ninety minutes that followed, and initially it looked like the hosts would have an advantage but saw two decent stops from Adrian Faherty deny them as the home side started well, although Hutton were not without their chances too and forced Mark Brown into a couple of smart stops at the other end too.

In the 17^th minute though Hutton did find a breakthrough when a cross to Will Marlowe saw him send a lovely back across goal and in off the far post, and despite the hosts good start they were behind in this one.

This saw the home side go off the boil somewhat as Hutton began to get a proper foothold in the contest, but as the half approached the final ten minutes Rayleigh began to find their feet again, and nine minutes before the break won a penalty after Bailey Moss was adjudged to have been fouled inside the box.  And Paul Morris emphatically struck home the spot kick and the sides went into the break all square.

It had been an entertaining match so far with both keepers being kept rather busy at times, so either side still fancied to go on and win this one no doubt.

Half Time Rayleigh Town 1 Hutton 1

The second half began with a bit of controversy as the away side thought they were going to be awarded a penalty after the assistant on the far side flagged for what they believed was a foul, but the referee decided to ignore this and led to rather frustrated reactions from the visitors, and goal scorer Marlowe was duly sin binned for his protests, so Hutton would be down to ten for ten minutes.

Rayleigh were then the side to be frustrated by the officials as a ball across goal saw Cam Glover eventually poke over the line to give Rayleigh the lead, but no, the assistant on the near side had flagged to say the ball had gone out for a corner prior to the cross, so the home side were the ones to be left annoyed by that.

Hutton then went back to full strength and began to get on top, and in the 63^rd minute retook the lead as after Brown had saved well, O’Callaghan followed up to poke the ball over the line, and Hutton now had a lead to hold onto once again.

They did more than hold on though, and with twelve minutes left made it three and increased their lead as after great work from Brad Freeman saw him get into the area and try and round Brown, he was thwarted but O’Callaghan was on hand to ram home the loose ball and the visitors were now well on their way to back to back wins.

Faherty did save another late effort from the hosts, but it was too little too late for them as Hutton deservedly ran out winners after a very good second half showing here, whilst for Rayleigh they started so well and should have been two or three up in five minutes, but Hutton gradually got a foothold and took their chances second half to take this one.

It means Hutton are now up to fifth after two straight wins, both away from home, whilst for Rayleigh Town it’s a third loss in four and arguably their worst performance of the season, especially second half, meaning they slip to second bottom, two points above bottom side Kelvedon Hatch although still only three points off mid table.

Full Time Rayleigh Town 1 Hutton 3