Coggeshall Town 1 Athletic Newham 2 - Two Derek O'Halem headers see visitors to all the points at a sweltering West Street

Essex Senior League, Saturday 9th September

My latest game came from West Street, Coggeshall, as hosts Coggeshall Town welcomed Athletic Newham to North Essex for an Essex Senior League contest on what was a very hot day in September.

The hosts endured a difficult campaign last season at Step Four in the non-league pyramid after finishing fourth from bottom in the Isthmian League North, and then lost at home in their Inter Step play off to Winterton Rangers, meaning they suffered relegation down into the ESL for this campaign, and it hasn’t started well for them this season either.

After six league games they sit bottom of the pile having lost five of those, with their only point a 3-3 draw at Frenford, but they have won a competitive game this season which came over the bank holiday weekend after a 4-1 win over Thurlow Nunn South side St Margeretsbury at West Street in the FA Vase, however this has been a brief moment of joy for the club so far this season.

And they welcome a tricky Athletic Newham side who have arguably on his day the best player at this level of football in Richard Kone, however with Kone serving his last game of a ban the hosts would have been happy he was not in the side, although Newham still would pose a massive challenge for the hosts as they are still a team packed full of quality without him.

Newham have had a solid start to their campaign, they sat in seventh prior to kick off and locked on nine points along with three other sides in a tight early season table, league wins over Tilbury, Little Oakley & Frenford but losses too West Essex, Halstead Town & Hullbridge Sports mean consistency has been an issue for the Newham side, but they had an amazing FA Cup tie against Combined Counties side Tooting & Mitcham, drawing the first game 3-3 after being 3-0 down with fifteen minutes to go, then winning the replay 4-2 before they went out to Westfield 3-0 in the next round.

So, with the visitors you’re not sure what you are going to get, but they would enter this game as favourites that’s for sure, a win for them could take them level with the top four, whereas the hosts could climb of the bottom of the table with a positive outcome, although surely one thing that was guaranteed to today was goals, as in the seventeen games combined involving both sides this season, their had been 69 goals netted, which is an average of four a game, so surely a nil nil wasn’t in the equation (famous last words!!!).

The hosts did start quite positively in this one, but they fell behind on thirteen minutes when a corner from the right by Anderson Baro found Derek O'Halam totally unmarked in the six yard box to head home, it was a poor goal for Town to concede and they would now have to try and find a way back into the contest and their character would yet again be tested as after such a positive start they found themselves behind.

They continued to take the game to their opponents though and put them under a lot of pressure, Leandro Sain had two great chances for the hosts but lacked composure on both occasions, the second chance was a very good save from Wilkinson Boateng as he pinched the ball of the strikers foot when he tried to round him, it just wasn't happening for the hosts and they were nearly punished on a couple of occasions when Newham nearly doubled their lead, one particular chance from Andy Greenslade was guilt edged.

Coggeshall though kept plugging away and in first half stoppage time grabbed a deserved leveller when a lovely through ball from Reggie Gregory found Leon Boyeja who produced some nice footwork before firing past Boateng in the visitors goal and sent the hosts into the break all square, and both sides could have a breather after a half that was played with a terrific tempo despite the 90 degree heat in North Essex.

The hosts joy at grabbing a late leveller soon evaporated barely a minute into the second period though as they conceded again from a O'Halem header from a Baro corner from the same side as the first goal had come, it was literally a carbon copy of the first goal, which would have been immensely frustrating for the home side, two poor goals conceded and now 2-1 down with their half time team talk totally out of the window.

Thereafter that though Newham were largely playing on the counter when they could as the hosts piled on the pressure to the Newham backline, who at times looked very lackadaisical at the back and almost allowed the hosts to find a leveller on more than one occasion, Coggeshall passed up at least six clear cut chances to find the net but lacked that composure in front of goal once again and also found visiting keeper Boateng hard to pass as well. It was certainly a frustrating afternoon for the hosts that was for sure.

Newham as said did counter on their opponents at times and their best chance to seal the points came when Joel Appiah fired an effort across goal and wide, but ultimately those two corners from Baro that found the head of O'Halem were enough to win the game for the visitors who would be more than happy at getting out of West Street with all three points, taking them up a place to sixth.

For Coggeshall they did most things right today, apart from putting the ball in the net and conceding those two soft goals from identical corners, it's these moments that shape a game and this young Coggeshall side will learn on the job and I am absolutely sure if they continue to play like this they will pick up more than enough points to pull them away from the foot of the table, that first league win cannot be far away for sure.

Finally kudos to both sets of players for putting on a decent game for all of us to watch, it was 90 degrees out there today so to play a game at a decent tempo like they did is a testament to them as it was really really hot!!! Thank you also to Coggeshall for the welcome and the hospitality throughout the day, I wish you all the best going forward.

Full time Coggeshall Town 1 Athletic Newham 2