Thurlow Nunn First Division South, Tuesday 23rd April
Tuesday saw me pop over to The Southchurch Park Arena for the very first time this season (yes I know very poor considering they are my closest club and only a ten minute walk away, if that!!!) to see if Southend Manor could grab a positive result against Hoddesdon Town and all but secure their Senior Football status for next season.
It's been a very poor second half of the season for the hosts, after a 7-2 home win over Tower Hamlets in mid December they have lost fifteen of their sixteen games since then, the only positive a unbelievable 2-1 home win over Cannons Wood which saw them end a ten game losing streak, but since then it's been five straight losses and it has left them in a predicament and in big danger of dropping out of Senior football altogether.
They sat second bottom and only on goal difference, three points from safety, and needing one win from their final two matches to pretty much guarantee survival from relegation to the Essex Olympian Premier, their goal difference is far better than fourth bottom Park View, who have finished their season, so three points tonight would see them out of the bottom three, relegating Park View as a result, but they were up against a Hoddesdon side who are now in the top then after a fantastic run recently.
One defeat in ten in all competitions since the start of February has helped them pull well clear of the drop zone, somewhere they occupied earlier in the campaign and looked in danger of falling out of Senior football themselves, but they sat in tenth spot having amassed fifty five points and are miles clear of danger now, so this for them was just a run out with nothing play for, but no doubt the visitors had no intentions of giving this one up, and wanted to finish the season on a high. A ninth place finish was still possible.
So, could Manor, who only dropped out of the Essex Senior League last season after they joined that league back in the mid 80s, prevent a disastrous relegation for the second successive campaign, ok three sides may not be relegated from the division and their maybe reprieves after the season is done, but they did not want to chance that and desperately needed a win to all but seal their Senior status, a point would take them above St Margaretsbury, who occupied the last relegation spot and have finished their season, that may be important too but for now three were going down so it was important to just get out of those spots.
Ironically Hoddesdon finish their season at the weekend away to bottom side Burnham Ramblers who simply needed to win their final game to have any chance of escaping the bottom three, but they needed help from Hoddy this evening as a Manor win would give them almost no chance of doing this as Manor's goal difference was better than theirs, so Hoddesdon certainly had a big say in who would finish in the bottom three, that's for sure, it certainly made it an intriguing spectacle for the next few days. Lots at steak you could say with a lot riding on this result tonight at Southchurch Park.
I have probably waffled on a bit too much about what could happen and what needed to happen, let's actually see how this evenings contest went, well Manor started the contest well and could easily have been a couple of goals to the good early on, Hoddesdon did then see a powerful effort tipped onto the post at the other end, but apart from that moment Manor were the ones looking likelier to score, and just before the half hour mark they grabbed a deserved lead.
This came towards the end of a sin bin handed out to the hosts a few minutes before, but it failed to halt a Manor side who were getting on top, Louie Rodmell swivelling before firing a left footed effort from outside the box which the keeper could only get a hand to but fail to keep it out, and with Manor on a crest of a wave they doubled that lead five minutes later when a cross into the box saw Reece Latimer power home a superb header, and the hosts were now in dreamland.
The hosts could and should have added more before the break too, one such moment saw the brilliant Alessandro Almeida fly down the right hand side before his cutback found a teammate who saw his effort saved, but Manor did go into the break two goals to the good and half way to the result they needed to all but confirm their survival.
Hoddesdon had not been at the races if truth be told, they looked like a team who had nothing to play for, but they improved after the break as the hosts began to look a little nervy, although the hosts keeper didn't have too much to do despite the a lot more pressure from the visitors, but Manor stood firm as they had done all game, battling hard for each other as expected from a side who knew a win was paramount.
Almeida did have a decent chance to ease those nerves when a lovely ball released him down the right, but his effort was beaten away by the keeper, but with just over fifteen minutes of the ninety to go Manor did add a third to all but seal this one when after the keeper had saved a decent effort, the ball fell into the path of Almeida who made no mistake, he certainly deserved a goal to cap his performance, and Manor were almost there.
Hoddesdon weren't going away though and finally pulled one back with 83 minutes on the clock as a ball into the box was flicked to the back post where Dion Laughton was on hand to turn home, and those nerves returned for the hosts and their supporters as they feared a late comeback from the visitors, and they did see an effort thump back off the post, a second goal would have made things very interesting indeed.
It was a rather frantic end to the game and in stoppage time both sides received red cards after an altercation, but after eight minutes or so of added on time, the referee brought proceedings to an end and Manor had grabbed that win to take them out of the bottom three and pretty much guarantee their senior status for another year, which for the club was massive and so important.
It also means that Park View & St Margaretsbury will finish in the bottom three, and Burnham Ramblers will almost certainly finish in the bottom three too and all three are now in danger of dropping out of Senior Football if those three positions are to be relegated, although that may not happen due to reprieves etc, so watch this space. The only way Ramblers can get out of the bottom three and deny Manor is if they beat Hoddesdon on the final day and Manor lose at Clapton and in the process overturn their thirteen goal deficit to Manor in their goal difference, which does seem unlikely. I guess it's never over till it's over, but it's all but over.....
Full time Southend Manor 3 Hoddesdon Town 1
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