Catholic United 1 White Ensign 6

Pre Season Friendly, Tuesday July 20th

Friendly number five prior to the 2021/22 season saw me over at another one of my local grounds in the shape of The Len Forge Centre for Essex Olympian Premier side Catholic United's game against Essex Senior League new boys White Ensign under the lights near Southend Airport.

The green and whites play here in all their home games now, whilst their opponents Ensign are very familiar with these surrounding of course as this was also their home ground prior to their senior years when they also plied their trade in the Olympian Premier division, and in fact all their other teams still play their games on the grounds, whether it be on the 3G or the outside pitches, so this was a home game for both in truth.

These two were league opponents not that long ago but Ensign's two promotions in the last few seasons have seen them go two levels above their opponents now, and early on it was the finishing from the higher level opponent that really set the tone for the contest, and after a crazy opening thirty seconds which saw Catholic almost get in before Ensign curled against the post down the other end, Ensign broke the deadlock after just 52 seconds when Luke Woodward was played in and he rounded Lewis Godwin-Green and slotted home.

Catholic then thumped a long range effort against the bar as they looked for a swift repost, but they then found themselves two goals down after six minutes when Dominic Locke converted a square ball from the right first time into the bottom left corner, and then after thirteen minutes Ensign added a third when a sublime first time pass from Connor Barnby released Woodward in on goal and the striker slotted past Godwin-Green, and the Essex Senior side had three goals inside fifteen minutes.

Sadly for Ensign Locke and Barnby were to play no further part thereafter as both came off for injuries, Locke for a muscle strain I believe, and Barnby after he had received a boot to the face, but their replacements combined on the half hour mark when a lovely crossfield pass found player boss Brett Munyard and his delightful cushioned first time pass into the path of Jason Reynolds-Blanche was a thing of beauty, and as Catholic all had their arms up for offside, the flag never came, and the striker strolled in to slot home their fourth.

Four minutes before the break Catholic did finally manage to break through themselves when their No.11, who had looked decent so far, fired a wonderful left footed effort across the keeper into the far corner, however it was Ensign who were to have the last laugh of a clinical first period from them when Munyard turned provider again, teeing up Woodward to fire at goal, and although his first effort was brilliantly blocked, he fired home the rebound for his hat-trick and sent his side into the break 5-1 up.

It had been a pretty action packed half, both sides had hit the woodwork twice, but Ensign had too much quality going forward for Catholic to deal with, and it had been a clinic of finishing from the higher league opponents so far.

The second half did at least see Catholic continue to press, and they hit the woodwork on a further two occasions, whilst Ensign found Catholic keeper Godwin-Green in top form as he made two or three decent stops to deny them more goals, but with just under twenty minutes to go Ensign did find a sixth goal to round off the scoring when a beautiful ball from John Hilliard sent Reynolds-Blanche clear, and he fired across goal and into the bottom corner for his second of the game.

The scoreline suggests Catholic were well beaten here, but they hit the woodwork four times in the contest and had other chances too, but they found an Ensign side who, especially in the first half, were clinical with their finishing and at times showed their class what with being the side who were two levels higher then their opponents here, but a good run out for both in what was a compelling game to watch.

Full Time Catholic United 1 White Ensign 6