Barkingside 0 Benfleet 1

Thurlow Nunn Division One South, Monday November 9th

Monday night saw me over at Cricklefield for a Thurlow Nunn One South contest between Barkingside and Benfleet, and saw a Mason Shave header six minutes before the break settle this rather drab affair in Seven Kings. 

Benfleet were certainly the favourites to take the points here, and knew a win would take them level on points with leaders Buckhurst Hill, whereas Barkingside were looking to upset the apple cart and grab a win which level with Wormley Rovers in tenth spot, and only five points off the top five in what is a very tight division.

Side had played at home on Friday evening against May & Baker, another side looking to break into the top five, and had held them 1-1 in what had been a poor game by all accounts, whilst Benfleet had netted a superb win over one of their promotion rivals in Wivenhoe Town 3-0 at Park Lane at the weekend, however just like Friday night's game here at Cricklefield, it turned out to be a very poor game.

And the only real moment of quality in the entire contest came six minutes before the break when Callum Fitzer drilled a brilliant ball into the near post where Shave came to meet it and send a powerful header rocketing into the net, and that proved to be enough for Fleet to grab the win and go level on points at the summit of the division, albeit they have played two games more than the leaders.

For Barkingside it was another disappointing evening at Cricklefield, their inconsistency continues and they remain down in 13th spot, neither side had played that well on what was a pretty poor uneven surface, both sides now have the weekend off and don't play again till the following weekend, so plenty of time to work on things on the training ground, more so for Barkingside I'd suggest.

Full time Barkingside 0 Benfleet 1