Rayleigh Town 0 FC Baresi 2 - Two Ahmed Abdullah goals direct from corners see FC Baresi take deserved victory to stun promotion chasing Rayleigh Town in their Thurlow Nunn South contest at The Len Salmon Stadium

Thurlow Nunn First Division South, Saturday December 21st

The final weekend before the festivities next week saw me back over at The Len Salmon Stadium for the second weekend in succession, but this time it was to watch a Thurlow Nunn South contest between Rayleigh Town & FC Baresi.

Now the game had been moved from Rayleigh's normal home of Concord Rangers Thames Road due to the pitch not being playable or maybe it was just being protected I don't know (Concord's match last weekend was postponed), and with Bowers & Pitsea's 4G surface available, this was chosen as the venue for this game today.

Now Rayleigh came into this one in third spot and seven points ahead of sixth placed AS London, so were well placed inside the top five positions, promotion through the play offs was their most likely route into the next level as Harlow Town were currently running away with the league, they were also seven points adrift of second placed Hackney Wick too, but all they needed to do was keep winning and stay in that play off zone.

Winning was coming aplenty as well for the hosts, thirteen league wins this campaign, and on a run of four straight wins without conceding a goal too, in fact their last loss in the league came back at the start of November so they were in good form for sure, and very consistent, something that could not be said of their opponents who were anything but consistent.

The visitors were down in 13th and came into this one off the back of some very up and down form, three straight defeats including a 5-0 and 8-0 reverse were followed by a win over promotion chasing Hutton, they then lost 3-4 at home to Hoddesdon Town before winning at Newbury Forest, then suffering a 0-3 reverse against today's opposition only two weekends ago, before they then smashed another promotion chasing side in Cannons Wood 7-0 away from home last time out, which FC Baresi side would turn up today?

Rayleigh were hoping they could repeat their success at Wodson Park two weekends ago when Arnold Acheampong, Lewis Risk & Matt Tapley found the net, Baresi were obviously hoping that did not happen, and in very windy and at times soaking wet conditions, which made playing football challenging at times, it was Baresi who probably shaded a goalless first half before they went onto take control in the second period.

Only nine minutes into the second period came the opener, Baresi now having the wind behind them won a corner and saw Ahmed Abdullah curl the ball into the six yard box and see the wind take it and catch out hosts keeper Josh Hudson and sail into the far corner and give the visitors a more than deserved lead.

They were the side looking most likely to net another and add to their lead as well, Hudson had to save well from Junior Appiah before the brilliant Jerrell Cato, who had been a constant thorn down the left for the hosts all afternoon, fired over when in a good position, these misses were not to cost them though.

Corners were an issue for the hosts in the second period with the wind blowing hard towards their own goal, one had already gone in, another had almost crept in at the near post, and another had glanced off the bar, well, history would repeat itself in the 86th minute when Abdullah curled another corner in from the left and this time found it's way in at the near post via a glance of a defenders head, two goals direct from corners in one half, when was the last time that happened?

It meant Baresi could see out the remainder of the contest and pick up back to back wins without conceding a goal, some consistency at last perhaps, it was certainly a brilliant performance and a deserved three points for the visiting team, not what you could say for a Rayleigh side who struggled to get going today and were below par in many aspects of their game, it certainly wasn't up to the standards they normally set, an off day you could say.

The hosts remain third though and still in a great position in their first ever season as a senior club, Baresi go up a place to 12th and are only two points off a top ten position, and considering the start they made to their first ever season at this level, that's a pretty good recovery and they have plenty to be excited about if they can churn out these sorts of performances on a regular basis.

Full time Rayleigh Town 0 FC Baresi 2

There were four other games that took place in the division this weekend, let's see how those went and how it affected the table heading into Christmas:-

Friday December 20th

Basildon Town 0 Cannons Wood 1

Saturday December 21st

Hutton 4 Barkingside 2

Southend Manor 3 Burnham Ramblers 3

St Margaretsbury 0 Hackney Wick 2

Cannons Wood bounced back from a horrific result last weekend by grabbing a battling 1-0 win at Bas Town to open up a four point lead to sixth place, Hutton also recorded an important win over Barkingside to climb back over Cannons Wood to take back fourth place and increase that gap to sixth themselves, Barkingside are now just a point above the drop zone.

This is because third bottom Burnham Ramblers picked up a point in a six goal thriller at Southchurch Park against Southend Manor, Manor are only three points above the drop zone in what is a very tight bottom half of the division, St Mags remain well adrift at the foot of the table after they lost at home to Hackney Wick who closed the gap to leaders Harlow with the points, six behind now with a game in hand.

You do feel it's Harlow's league to lose now,  but no doubt Wick will keep up the chase, you feel nobody else will catch them now though, the play off race could become interesting though so that is something to keep an eye on, down at the bottom apart from St Mags, their are several sides who are in a battle to stay out of those bottom three places, this division is once again proving very competitive and unpredictable, just how we like it!!!

Anyway thanks for reading, and I wish you all a very merry Christmas, stay safe and enjoy your festive celebrations.....

Bowers & Pitsea 0 Carshalton Athletic 3 - Visitors close gap to play off places after goals from Bradford, Goather-Braithwaite & Smith help them to victory over struggling Bowers & Pitsea at Len Salmon Stadium

Isthmian League Premier Division, Saturday December 14th 

I popped over to a local game in mid December and The Len Salmon Stadium for Bowers & Pitsea's latest attempt to try and score a goal in recent times and see if they could net what would be a useful three points in their quest to try and enhance their chances of survival.

They had only managed to notch four wins in the league all season and were second bottom of the table and six point from safety at kick off, and if recent form was anything to go by then things did not look great, six defeats on the spin and failing to net in their last four encounters, that had to change before long if they were to stay in with a shot of getting out of the bottom four.

By contrast though their opponents, Carshalton Athletic, were on a really good run of form, one defeat in eleven and on an unbeaten run of eight in all competitions and in with a shot of closing the gap to the play off places to just a point if they could pick up all three points here and results went for them elsewhere, they started the day in 11th spot, four points off those places.

The form book suggested the visitors would be favourites, they had drawn a fair few of those games in that unbeaten run though, however after a fairly even first forty five minutes with not to much in the way of goalmouth action, the visitors pounced in first half stoppage time, when Tommy Bradford managed to shake off his marker before slotting across keeper David Hughes into the far corner to give Carshalton the edge going into the half time break.

It was certainly a good time to score for the visitors and a poor time to concede for the hosts, they continued to huff and puff in the second period but it was clear to see why they were struggling to find the net, and equally clear to see why they were struggling down towards the foot of the table, despite their hard working traits, which sadly isn't enough right now.

The visitors looked dangerous and were the ones mostly on the front foot in the second period, and it was no surprise when they did double their money in the 64th minute when Darnell Goather-Braithwaite ran onto a pass into the box to fire a lovely shot high into the roof of the net, and then fourteen minutes later they sealed the deal and the points when David Smith fired an effort in off the post, again giving keeper Hughes no chance.

A comprehensive win for Carshalton in the end, and they are now just one point off the play offs now and up to eighth after today's win, for Bowers, it's another defeat, their seventh loss in a row now and no goals in five straight games, things will have to improve soon if they are to have a shot at survival come the new year.

Full time Bowers & Pitsea 0 Carshalton Athletic 3

Right let's have a look at what else happened in the division today:-

Billericay Town 1 (Todd Miller 16)

Hastings United 1 (Davide Rodari 3)

Bognor Regis Town 2 (Tommy-Lee Higgs 67; Jasper Mather 69; Spencer Spurway sent off 90+4)

Whitehawk 3 (Charlie Walker 10(pen); Callum Barlow 49; Wasiri Williams 90+9)

Chatham Town 4 (Freddie Sears 18,54; Rowan Liburd 45; John Ufuah 75)

Folkestone Invicta 1 (Joseph Turner 42)

Cray Valley PM 5 (Sonny Black 9; Freddie Parker 25(pen),88,90+7, Denzel Gayle 90+5)

Wingate & Finchley 3 (Ogo Obi 41,81; Camilo Restrepo 54)

Dartford 2 (Callum Jones 22; Olly Box 72)

Dulwich Hamlet 2 (Luke Wanadio 45+3; Ralfi Hand 61)

Dover Athletic 0

Cray Wanderers 1 (Nyren Clunis 47)

Hashtag United 4 (Max Cornhill 4; Toby Aromolaran 13; Josh Osude 58; Luke May-Parrott 87)

Potters Bar Town 1 (Joe Re 90+4)

Hendon 0 

Canvey Island 1 (Chris Harris 61)

Horsham 3 (Chris Dickson 34(pen),49,69)

Cheshunt 1 (Vas Vasiliou 60)

Lewes 2 (Eddie Allsopp 34, Gianluca Botti 68)

Chichester City 3 (Jimmy Wild 10(pen); Isaac Bello 70; Lloyd Rowlatt 73)

And how does those results affect the table:-

Certainly some dramatic games in the league today, and plenty of goals too, leaders Dover Athletic lost only their third league game of the season but their lead was only cut to five points after Billericay Town failed to beat struggling Hastings United at home today.

Cray Valley PM netted two stoppage time goals to win a mad contest against play off hopefuls Wingate & Finchley to move level with second placed Billericay, Chatham Town climb into the play off places after they thrashed mid table Folkestone Invicta, Carshalton & Canvey climb into the top ten and move closer to those top five positions after victories today.

Down at the bottom, Whitehawk's dramatic 99th minute win in their huge clash down at the bottom against Bognor Regis Town sees them close the gap to safety and also sees the side from near Brighton jump a place too, meaning the bottom three now all lost this weekend as their gaps to safety increased after all the teams just above the drop zone picked up points.

Anyway that concludes today's blog, thanks for reading and hope your enjoyed reading as well. 

Essex Senior League Midweek Round Up (Tuesday December 10th) - Barking into top five after come from behind win, Walden up to sixth after victory, Oakley crash out of County Cup

(Geniero Maragh levelling for Barking against Ensign, picture courtesy of Trevor Gilbert)

There were two Essex Senior League games scheduled for Tuesday night, and both involved sides trying to break into the top five and the play off spots in the division, those sides were Barking & Saffron Walden Town who were both trying to replace Romford inside that top five, both needed wins this evening to do that, could either achieve this, let's find out.

Barking 3 White Ensign 2

The Blues knew that if they picked up maximum points in this one at Mayesbrook Park then they would definitely end the night in the top five, they trailed fifth placed Romford by just a point and were a point ahead of seventh placed Walden, they were taking on an Ensign side though capable of springing a shock on their opponents and were looking to cement their top ten status as well.

Well, in the 13th minute it was Ensign who drew first blood, Jon Evans converting from the spot, but Barking managed to level through Geneiro Maragh nine minutes before the break, and then five minutes into the second period The Blues had turned it around when Juwon Akintunde found the net to give the hosts the advantage.

And just three minutes after that Barking took total control of the contest when Sam Shaban added a third to increase the hosts advantage, they then could have made it three goals in five second half minutes had they not missed from the spot, and then the hosts saw themselves reduced to ten men after Henry Mabassa was sent off just past the hour mark in conceding a spot kick to the visitors, their second of the game, which Evans duly dispatched to reduce the arrears and bring Ensign right back into the game. 

But, despite having that numerical advantage and an extra nine minutes of stoppage time, Barking managed to hold onto their advantage and take all three points to climb into the top five of the table.

Saffron Walden Town 3 West Essex 1

Walden knew if they could pick up maximum points and Barking failed to win their game at home to Ensign, they would end the night above both The Blues and Romford in the table and in that fifth place position, they were up against a West Essex outfit who on their day can cause problems for anybody in this league and they were looking to climb into the top ten with victory themselves.

It was Walden who grabbed the opening goal just before the half hour mark through Solomon Ofori, and then Jordon Elongo, Walden's new signing from Frenford, doubled the hosts lead in the 74th minute, and the game was sealed for sure in the 86th minute when Correy Davidson found the net for the hosts third.

The only disappointment of the evening was that the home side were unable to keep a clean sheet because TWELVE minutes into stoppage time Ramzi Mahmoudi pulled one back for the visitors, but it was really too little too late as Walden took maximum points from this game, although it wasn't enough to climb into the top five after Barking's win against Ensign, however they do climb a place to sixth and are right in the mix for the play offs still.

Let's see how the table looks after those two games:-

So, Barking and Walden leapfrog Romford in the table, with the former now into those play off places, Ensign & West Essex remain where they started the evening after those defeats.

There was also one rearranged BBC Essex Senior Cup tie involving an ESL club and also the final side left in the competition from the division, that side was Little Oakley, who had a Last Sixteen tie against Isthmian North Waltham Abbey, let's see if Oakley could spring a surprise to set up a Quarter Final tie at home to Vanarama South Chelmsford City.

Waltham Abbey 2 Little Oakley 0

This was Oakley's fourth tie of the competition having started way back in Round One, and after knocking out fellow ESL sides Athletic Newham and Romford, both at home, they dumped Isthmian North Basildon United out 3-0 at home to set up this, their first away tie in the competition this season, against another Isthmian North outfit. 

Abbey of course started their campaign in the last round, seeing off fellow Isthmian North outfit in Grays Athletic 3-1 at Capershotts, and they were favourites to set up a Quarter Final home tie against Chelmsford City, which for both sides would be a very big game in the Last Eight of the county cup.

A goalless first period played out before the hosts grabbed the lead barely a minute into the second period courtesy of Nicholas Brown, but the hosts were then reduced to ten men in the 71st minute when Ollie Fernandez was given his marching orders, giving Oakley a chance to possibly force penalties or even a shock win.

However, soon after going down to ten, Abbey doubled their lead, and those two goals proved the difference as Abbey won through to the Quarter Finals, eliminating the final ESL side from the County Cup in the process.

Day trip to Netherlands/Belgium - Heerenveen net dramatic late winner at Willem II in Dutch Eredivisie whilst Dender net only goal of game to record victory over Westerlo in Belgian Jupiler Pro League

(Willem II and Heerenveen do battle in their Eredivisie clash at the Koning Willem II Stadion)

Sunday 8th December will go down as one of the good days, it saw me head to Netherlands & Belgium for the day with three other keen football mates to see a match in the Dutch Eredivisie & the Belgian Jupiler Pro League, the top divisions in each country.

It did require a very early start mind, up at 4:30am for a 5:30am departure to the Channel Tunnel in Folkestone for a 2:30pm kick off time (1.30pm UK) but this was a small price to pay for what lay ahead, a good day out watching football with good people, what more could you want.

Our first port of call was Tilburg, which was roughly a two and a half hour drive from Calais, once you got off the Eurotunnel train (Le Shuttle as it's known) the early part of the journey was through awful wind and rain, but thankfully this cleared by the time we arrived in Tilburg.

Once we had explored the surroundings outside the ground & had had some food from the catering kiosk, we headed in to the stadium for the first game, let's now see how that one went shall we:-

Willem II Vs SC Heerenveen (Dutch Eredivisie)

Both these sides had been experiencing mixed campaigns, or even disappointing ones, both were in the bottom half of the Eredivisie and only a handful of points above third bottom, which is the relegation play off position, so they knew that they needed to pick up points to try and get themselves away from this spot. They were not far off European qualification play off spots either, such is the way the league is.

The hosts were above their opponents by one point, so there wasn't an awful lot to pick between the sides, so no doubt this was going to be a closely fought battle in front of what was a very atmospheric crowd in a pretty decent stadium it has to be said, there were 12,775 inside the Koning Willem II Stadion (the ground holds around 14,000) but it sounded like a hell of lot more as both sets of 'ultras' made a lot of noise and really made the atmosphere superb.

However, just before kick off both sets of fans impeccably observed a minutes silence in memory of ex Willam II player Henk van Rooji, who recently passed at the age of 76, he made 157 appearances for the hosts in a career spanning seventeen years with several clubs between 1965-1982, five of those years, 1975-1980, were spent at the Tilburg club where he notched 48 goals in that time, so everyone here wanted to pay their respects, RIP Henk.

The noise came back though once the whistle had been blown, the atmosphere, and I know I keep saying it, was superb, and certainly added to the enjoyment for me, even if the game failed to produce to many moments of goal mouth action, there were some decent moments for both sides throughout, but they just could not find that breakthrough.

Hereenveen probably looked the more likely to score as the game went on, Willem II did have a couple of really good chances though as well but as the game entered it's final ten minutes, if a goal was to come you felt one would probably settle this one, well cue a dramatic final fifteen minutes or so.

Now VAR had barely been involved, thankfully, and as I thought that to myself, low and behold it was involved in a big way, there were 83 minutes on the clock when visiting midfielder Alireza Jahanbakhsh went down under a challenge just inside the box, now I thought penalty, as did the whole visiting bench who were up in arms, the referee waved play on but then VAR spoke to him and he came over to the screen to have a look.

And after doing that, he awarded a spot kick to the visitors, and Ion Nicolaescu, who had come on as a substitute just past the hour mark, slotted home the penalty and the visitors looked like they had netted the decisive blow, well the hosts were not about to give this one up easily, and in the 89th minute they levelled to send the home crowd wild, striker Jeremy Bokila heading an effort against the inside of the post before it hit keeper Mickey van der Hart and going into the goal.

Five minutes of stoppage time were then shown, could someone go and grab a winner, you thought momentum was with the hosts, but no, as in a dramatic end to the contest, in the 93rd minute a cross from Che Nunnely, who had replaced penalty spot winner Jahanbakhsh after he limped off winning the spot kick, found Luuk Brouwers who sent a lovely header beyond the dive of Thomas Didilion to win the game for the visitors, sending them and the bench, which included manager Robin van Persie, into celebratory mood.

So, an average but ok game settled in dramatic fashion, the final half hour was certainly much more enjoyable, and the final few minutes certainly were dramatic and enjoyable to watch, it also meant Heerenveen leapt into the top ten and above Willem II, a big three points for them indeed. 

Full time Willem II 1 SC Heerenveen 2

Below are some snaps I took before and during the the game itself:-

A very enjoyable experience in the first game then, but we had no time to dwell on this, as we all had to get back in the car and drive ninety minutes back into Belgium and to the small settlement of Denderleeuw, home to newly promoted FCV Dender EH as they were taking on Westerlo.

Once we arrived in the town, which only has a population of around 20,000, and managed to find a parking space somewhere, we headed down to the Florent Beeckmanstadion, which only has a capacity of 8,000, the stadium was built in 2008 after the club reached the top division for the very first time.

They fell to the third tier but won promotion back to second tier in 2021/22 before they secured a return to the top tier last season, they only average around 3,500 for a home game but in a town that only has 20,000 people in it, that's not to bad, although only 2,508 were in attendance at this game, although the noise generated for such a small crowd was pretty decent in all honestly.  Anyway let's see how the game unfolded:-

FCV Dender EH Vs KVC Westerlo (Belgian Juplier Pro League)

Now the hosts were finding their latest (second) crack at the top division tough as expected, they were right in battle for the relegation play off spots and only out of them on goal difference, Westerlo were in the top eight and trying to get into the top six which break away for a championship play off (the top six break away and points are halved, don't ask).

The current position (eighth) they were in saw them in the second part of the division which breaks away and those sided play off for European football (I Think!!!), it's a very confusing way to end the season but I guess it keeps everyone competing for something in a sixteen team division, still a long away before any of that happened.

Anyway the hosts knew a win could take them three clear of the bottom four places whilst the visitors could break into the top six with a win, the sides did play each other only a month ago at Westerlo's Het Kuipje ground, and Westerlo won that one 2-0, would history repeat itself or would Dender record victory?

It turned out to be a rather poor game if truth be told, but it was settled by a goal seven minutes before the half time break, and it went to Dender, pleasing their small but load following, it came when a cross from the left by Fabio Ferraro found Nathan Rodes who leapt highest to plant a header into the corner of the net despite visiting keeper Koen Van Langendonck getting a hand to it.

Joyous celebrations followed and all the playes went over to a camera behind the goal to produce a shirt for someone called 'Karol' so that was obviously for something they wanted to pay respects for, so fair play for that, and they managed to win the game for her as well, so that was lovely (assuming it was a her, apologies if not).

The hosts did have to withstand a lot of second half pressure as Westerlo looked to find a route back into the game, Dender could have made it a bit more relaxing in the final part of the game had they taken a couple of chances on counter attacks, but they did manage to hold on grab a very important three points.

Westerlo did drop a place to ninth as a result although they are only two points off the top six so it's not all bad right now, Dender are up to 11th now and have a three points cushion to those relegation play off places, they are only three points off the top six too, mad how tight this league is!!!

Full time FCV Dender EH 1 KVC Westerlo 0

And here are some snaps from the visit to this game:-

Two very different clubs visited, but both very enjoyable in their own ways, it was certainly a very enjoyable experience and a great day too, even if it was almost a twenty four hour one, it has certainly wetted the appetite for more European adventures, they are certainly recommended for sure!!!

Anyway hope you enjoyed reading my experiences, thanks as always, I'm off for a lie down now!!!