Great Wakering Rovers 1 Barking 1

Isthmian League One North, Saturday 1st January

New Year's Day saw me over at Burroughs Park to see an Isthmian North contest between Great Wakering Rovers and Barking which saw hosts striker Martin Tuohy's header cancel out a Charlie Heatley opener to see this match end all square.

These two sides were sitting just above the relegation play off spot in 17th and 16th respectively, with the visitors two points above their opponents, and with Witham Town, who occupied that relegation play off spot in 18th, just two points behind, a win for either of these sides was paramount.

The hosts form coming into this contest wasn't brilliant, just three points in December out of a possible twelve, although that solitary win did come at Witham Town, a huge result in terms of league positions, but they were beaten 4-1 at home by Aveley last time out, so needed to bounce back in this one that was for sure.

The Blues form in December had not been a lot better, in the five games they had played they had one win, that against bottom side Romford, draws against Brentwood Town and Heybridge Swifts, but defeats against AFC Sudbury and struggling Hullbridge Sports for whom that was only one of two wins all season, so not great for Barking who also needed the points here as said.

This was a pretty important game then down towards the bottom of the division, and a decent crowd of 178 turned out to watch it,  and the majority of the crowd would have been pleased with what they saw in the opening forty five minutes as the hosts asked most of the questions, however, they could not put the ball in the onion bag, which ultimately matters.

This was down to poor finishing, two good stops from Blues keeper James Shaw, and also dogged defending from the visitors, the only real chance Barking had in the opening forty five minutes was a decent one though, when Jess Norey headed a cross wide, but apart from that they were on the back foot for the majority of the opening half, and could count themselves lucky to be level heading into the break.

Could Barking make Rovers pay for those misses in the opening forty five minutes, well nine minutes after the break they struck a hammer blow to their opponents when edging ahead with probably only their second real effort at goal as Heatley managed to get goal side of his marker, shrugged him off to run in on goal, and send a nice finish beyond Tim Brown into the far corner.

Could Wakering respond? Five minutes later we had an answer as after s shirt pull on the far side had resulted in a free kick for the hosts, a decision which the Barking bench were upset about, not sure why as we could all see the shirt pull from where we were, the ball was crossed into the near post where Tuohy was on hand to head home, he had missed a great chance just before that so he had made amends for that at least, and Rovers were back on level terms which was the least they deserved.

Who would go on and win this contest? Wakering probably had the best chance in the remainder of the game but struck wide of the far post from a great position, but the rest of the half was a much more tightly contested affair, much more so than the first period had been at least, but with neither side able to find another goal, it ended up finishing all square and a point a piece for either side. Barking would certainly have been happier with the point, Rovers will be disappointed not to have won it with the amount of chances they created throughout, especially first half.

It all means that Rovers remain 17th, still two points above Witham Town (who also drew today) in that relegation play off position, and seven points above the bottom two, whilst Barking are a further two points ahead and whom climb a place to 15th above Basildon United who lost today.  No doubt many twists and turns to come in the months ahead, Rovers next game is away at Canvey Island on Monday, a very tough assignment that's for sure, whilst Barking take on Hashtag United at home , also on Monday, which is also a tough ask. 

Full time Great Wakering Rovers 1 Barking 1