Southend Manor 2 Saffron Walden Town 1

Essex Senior League, Tuesday 20th October 2020 

Tuesday night saw me back over Southchurch Park for an Essex Senior League contest between Southend Manor and Saffron Walden Town, and it saw the hosts come from behind and net a 100^th minute penalty to take a dramatic win.

Manor came into this one very fresh after there last two games were called off (one for the weather and the other for Covid-19) so no doubt they would have been chomping at the bit to go into battle and try and net a fourth win in five on their own patch.

Walden have had for their standards of the last few seasons a rather mixed and indifferent start, but their 4-0 success at Hoddesdon Town on Saturday would have certainly given them huge confidence coming into this one, a trip to the Essex coast for a battle against a young and hungry hosts.

Manor knew a win here could see them go above their opponents and leap up four places to sixth, whilst despite the visitors indifferent start three points for The Bloods could see them go level on points with third placed Stansted but go above them on goal difference, so making their slow start become not a bad one you could say.

The opening half saw Walden edge what was a fairly scrappy encounter, and they certainly had the majority of the openings, and only three decent stops from Manor keeper Alfie Marigliani, on loan from Barnet as the 17 year old is a scholar there, kept the hosts in the contest.

Manor themselves did have two decent chances in the first period but Walden were largely in the ascendancy and a minute before the break The Bloods took the lead when a lovely ball from Ollie Fortune through to Dimitri Hatzimouratis saw the latter slot past Marigliani and it sent Walden into the break one goal to the good and with a deserved lead.

Half Time Southend Manor 0 Saffron Walden Town 1

So would Walden kick on and add to their lead or would the young Manor side fight back and make this a decent contest? Well, the hosts were definitely the better side in the second period but could not find that net as they pushed their opponents onto the back foot for a lot of the half.

Now I am not one to talk about officials and the like, but it is hard for me not to on this occasion as sadly the referee was becoming the biggest talking point of the game, and some of the decisions he made were baffling to say the least, and also there were nine bookings and also both managers saw yellows in a game that wasn’t particularly dirty at all.

This referee’s evening was summed up in a moment of madness in the second half when after Joe Pullen had committed a foul, the referee showed him a yellow card, and then had to consult his assistant on the far side as to whether he had already been booked.

They looked at their book and saw that Pullen was down as being booked early on in the game, so showed him a second yellow and a red card, but this wasn’t correct either and after a minute or two of chaos as Walden strongly protested this decision, it was actually Fortune, the number nine, who had been booked earlier in the game for clattering Manor keeper Marigliani.

It was a farcical moment in the game and kind of summed up his evening in a nutshell, yes I know it is a tough job and without them we would not have a game but the referee certainly played a large part in how some of this game panned out, and both sets of players were getting frustrated with him understandably, but especially Walden, who were certainly being outplayed this half by a resurgent hosts.

Anyway Walden were still leading as the game entered the 88^th minute, that was until a corner swung over to the back post and saw substitute Harry Rodgers rise to power home a close range header, and with twelve minutes of stoppage time to come, courtesy of the referee stopping and starting the contest throughout the second period, Manor felt they could possibly go on and win it.

And there was one final sting in this contest as another corner knocked into the visitor’s area saw the referee blow his whistle and point to the spot, and Walden could not believe it!!!  It was given for a push or grab at the near post apparently and it gave Manor the chance to grab the lead ten minutes into added on time.

And Ben Allen kept his nerve to see his penalty squeeze in off the post after keeper James Bransgrove had got a hand to it to push it onto the post, and it handed Manor the points and another fantastic comeback win yet again to make it four wins from their five home games so far at what is becoming ‘fortress Southchurch’.

Walden were beside themselves with anger and rage towards the referee, and you could understand their frustrations, but the abuse he received as he walked down the tunnel from the other side of the cage was not on in my view and rather disappointing to say the least.  Yes, he had a terrible game, but he does not deserve to receive that kind of abuse.

Anyway, after all of that it’s Manor who climb up four places to sixth and above Walden who drop a place to seventh.  Manor’s next task is league leaders Hashtag United away on Saturday so another good test for the young hungry side, whilst Walden host Walthamstow in another big game at Catons Lane.  Be interesting to see how they bounce back from this huge disappointment this evening that’s for sure.

Full Time Southend Manor 2 Saffron Walden Town 1