Essex Senior League, Tuesday November 16th
Tuesday night saw me over at The Recreation Ground for St Margaretsbury against Takeley in an Essex Senior League contest, and an early Theo Campbell header proved decisive as the visitors took all three points to go into the top ten.
The hosts have struggled somewhat this season, and you have to go back to September 21st for their last win, since then they have only picked up two points from a possible twenty one, although one of those draws was at Enfield which also saw their only clean sheet of the entire season so far, however they were up against a Takeley outfit who have also had a rather mixed campaign so far themselves.
Recent form saw them lose three in a row, with two of them heavy losses, but they did manage to pick up a win at the weekend but this has been a season of struggle for what we are used to seeing from the Station Road side, so which way would the game go?
As it turned out it was settled ultimately by a seventh minute header, and in the hosts eyes, one that should not have counted, as a ball into the penalty area from the left found Campbell all alone with not one defender anywhere near him so he had the simple task of nodding home, leaving the hosts stunned no flag had gone up, I could not tell from my angle if it was offside or not, but it wasn't given, so the goal stood.
Both sides struck the woodwork in the remainder of the opening forty five minutes, whilst St Mags also saw an effort ruled out for offside, although this one was more clear cut, however, the second forty five minutes probably belonged to the hosts as they had the better openings, well, pretty much all the openings that materialised in the second period.
Takeley did have a couple of openings but these were not threatening, but they dug in very well to put in a solid defensive display and frustrate their opponents, and sadly the game ended in a rather unsavoury affair after a melee involving most of the players, this spilled over into the next attack as Kieran Southgate, who had wound up some of the home side, was hacked down halfway up his leg by central defender Aiden Reid, who was shown a straight red as a result.
A rather fractious end then, and not a classic by any means, but Takeley won't care as they climb into tenth after a very hard fought win, whereas St Mags, who will feel hard done by for not getting anything from this contest, remain in 17th and winless in eight league games now.
Full Time St Margaretsbury 0 Takeley 1
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