Essex Senior League Errington Challenge Cup Semi Final, Monday 22nd April
The start of a new week saw me over at one of the Essex Senior League's flagship cup semi finals as their league cup, which these days of course is named after league president Robert & his late wife, the wonderful Margaret Errington, had reached the last four stage and saw both semi finals being played on the same evening as four sides did battle to reach the Bank Holiday Monday finale.
I was privileged to join Robert in travelling with him to The Hawthorns, home of Stanway Rovers, as they took on Woodford Town, the other semi final was taking place at Catons Lane as Saffron Walden Town hosted Romford, two good ties to come for sure, all four semi finalists were in the top seven of the league with a week or so remaining of the regular season, and Woodford Town & Romford had home semi final play off ties to come too once the season was done.
For this night though it was all about League Cup success, shall we see how the competition has panned out so far:-
First Round
FC Clacton 5 (Collins x2, Cowler, Harms, Baker-Williams) Coggeshall Town 1 (Oseyemi 90+1)
Hullbridge Sports 0 Woodford Town 2 (Protic 64,90)
Takeley 2 (McGettigan 61,Arshakian 87) Sporting Bengal United 3 (Artmeladze 60, Ball 80, Juwara 90)
White Ensign 0 Barking 4 (Hirst 13, Martin 67,80,90+3)
Second Round
Buckhurst Hill 0 West Essex 1 (Bartlett-Antwi 25)
Great Wakering Rovers 2 (MacDonald 38, Gnandi 43) Woodford Town 3 (Christou 3, Protic 75,87)
Halstead Town 2 (Adeyemi, Pinkney) Frenford 1 (Johnston)
Romford 2 (Elegushi 48, Morris 52) Little Oakley 0
Saffron Walden Town Vs FC Clacton (Home Walkover for Saffron Walden Town)
Sporting Bengal United 2 (Pepple 17, Wilson 84) Athletic Newham 3 (Aminu, Spencer x2)
Stanway Rovers 2 (Okoye 6, Grimes 43) Ilford 1 (Warner)
Tilbury 0 Barking 2 (Bademosi 36, Dairi 49)
Quarter Finals
Halstead Town 2 (Bennett, Older) Romford 5
Saffron Walden Town 1 (Ofori 90) Barking 0
Stanway Rovers 3 (Conway 8, Thomas 46, Cooper 90) Athletic Newham 0
West Essex 0 Woodford Town 3 (Protic 20, Okoh 65,76)
Semi Finals
Saffron Walden Town Vs Romford
Stanway Rovers Vs Woodford Town
So, that's the entire competition so far, sixteen games over three rounds, for the semi finalists only Woodford Town had to battle through every round to reach this stage, all away from home too including the semi final tonight as well, whereas Stanway Rovers, Saffron Walden Town & Romford all received byes through to Round Two. Walden in fact only had to win their Quarter Final against Barking to reach this stage after their Second Round tie saw FC Clacton pull out, Stanway netted two home wins to reach this stage where they have another home tie, and finally Romford saw a home win followed by a big away win to set up another away tie in the semis, that brings you all up to date with how this competition panned out over the last three months.
All four sides are in good form of late too, Walden are unbeaten in April (five games) and were leading champions Tilbury 2-0 in midweek before that game was abandoned, Romford of course reached the FA Vase Final a couple of weekends ago and take on fellow ESL side Great Wakering Rovers at Wembley which will be a momentous day for the league and clubs too, and they were on a twelve match unbeaten run until they lost at Buckhurst Hill at the weekend to see their faint title hopes ended.
Stanway have been on a marvellous run since losing to Isthmian North side Witham Town narrowly at home in late Feb, losing only two out of eleven since then, and those losses were against champions Tilbury second placed Romford, and Woodford Town have only lost twice in the last eighteen games they have played too, so as said all four sides were full of confidence for sure.
And what of the head to heads between the semi finalists, well Romford thrashed Walden on the opening day of the season 5-1 before the return game at Catons Lane was much tighter but saw Romford earn a 1-0 win, Stanway netted a thumping 5-2 home win over Woodford before they netted a 2-1 win at Ashton's in the return fixture, so on that basis the final will be Romford Vs Stanway Rovers, but it's not an simple as that is it.
Let's concentrate on matters at The Hawthorns then, the game I attended of course, and after the visitors initially had started the game on the front foot, Rovers soon began to take over the contest and were creating any openings that were forthcoming, Tom Maycock struck the bar with a free kick in the games best chance until Rovers took the lead ten minutes before the break when Harry Thomas got in to slot beyond Eddie Allan.
Rovers then saw Maycock once again strike the bar from another free kick and then the hosts thought they had doubled their lead just before the break when a corner was headed back across goal and touched in from close range, but after the referee consulted the assistant, the goal was then ruled out for offside, much to the annoyance of Rovers, and it annoyed skipper Reece Conway so much he was sin binned as the players walked off for half time.
This meant the hosts would have to play the first ten minutes of the second period with ten men, but this didn't affect them as six minutes after the break they doubled their lead when Thomas again was played in and he produced another faultless finish for his second of the game as Rovers stamped their authority on the contest.
Woodford looked out of it, that was until they were given a route back into the contest when they were awarded a spot kick after a foul inside the box, and Ernest Okoh duly converted the spot kick, and for a period after the goal you felt maybe they would get back into the tie, but that hope only lasted for about ten minutes as Rovers restored their two goal cushion with just under twenty minutes remaining when a cross from the right was converted first time by Jamie Bennett.
Rovers were back in full flow by now and they were handed a fourth goal when after Woodford keeper Allan had tried to dribble out of his own box surrounded by opponents, he eventually lost the ball to George Okoye who had the simple task of slotting the ball into the empty net, and at that point the tie was well and truly over, and Rovers had cruised into the final of the Errington Challenge Cup.
Full time Stanway Rovers 4 Woodford Town 1
So, Stanway Rovers were though to the final, what happened in the other semi final tie? Let's find out:-
Saffron Walden Town 2 Romford 4
FA Vase finalist Romford are into another final after they netted four at Catons Lane to defeat Saffron Walden Town, eleven minutes had elapsed when Boro took the lead, Finlay Dorrell ran onto a pass from Amaree Robinson-Jones to fire an effort past Jarvis Monk, and nine minutes later Boro doubled their advantage when Ash Siddik found Luke Foster who was brought down inside the box, and Kris Newby fired home the resulting spot kick. Dorrell then netted his second of the game, sadly for him and Boro it was at the wrong end though as Walden reduced the arrears twelve minutes before the break when Dorrell deflected the ball past his own keeper, but twelve minutes after the break Boro restored their two goal lead when after Dorrell's cross wasn't dealt with, Darren Phillips low effort found the net.
Two minutes of normal time remained when Walden gave themselves hope of a late comeback when they reduced the arrears once again, Scott Doe headed the ball back to his keeper Wayne Baker whose clearance cannoned off Stan Leech who then ran the ball into the net, but any thoughts of possible extra time were extinguished when Romford sealed the contest four minutes into stoppage time when Toheeb Elegushi cut inside before firing a low effort beyond Monk and make sure Boro reached the final.
It all means then that the final, which takes place at Halstead Town's Rosemary Lane, will be contested between Romford & Stanway Rovers on Sunday 19th May. It promises to be a decent final.....
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