Essex Senior League, Saturday September 28th
The final weekend in September saw me over at The Drive in Ilford/Redbridge/Gants Hill area (take your pick!!!) for an Essex Senior League contest between Frenford & Woodford Town. This was part of a full set of fixtures in the division today, with all twenty sides in action, more on those later, but for now we will concentrate on the match I was at.
Now Frenford struggled somewhat in their first season at this level last year, although they did lose a lot of games they were competitive in and could easily have won, well this season they have started much much better and were in ninth spot having played seven league games, winning three, drawing two and losing two, so a solid start for sure.
And last time out they progressed in the FA Vase when they won a entertaining match at Enfield Borough last weekend, although they would have to be right on the ball today as they welcomed the only unbeaten side left in the division and league leaders Woodford Town who in their seven league games have won six of them and drawn one, conceding, wait for it, just the one goal.
The only disappointment for Woodford this season so far though is their form in both national cup comps, they were beaten 3-1 at Benfleet in the FA Cup and also exited the FA Vase at the first hurdle when losing on penalties at Hadleigh United following a goalless draw, that would disappoint them for sure, but in terms of league form this season, they have been pretty much perfect.
And they did manage to progress in the London Senior Cup in midweek too, knocking out Hendon on penalties after a goalless draw, their last league outing saw them net four at White Ensign, could they continue this unbeaten start to their league campaign today, or could Frenford inflict their first league defeat and continue their sold start to their season.
Well, it was to be the hosts who would break the deadlock ten minutes before the break, and it was an absolute beauty too, Jordon Elongo had the ball down the right hand side and he played a pass inside to Fahad Nazor who sent a beautiful first time curling effort from outside the box over Eddie Allan in the visiting goal and into the far corner, it was a superb strike and a rare goal for the league leaders to concede.
And shortly before half time, they had conceded another, Frenford seeing Elongo get into the box and although his effort crashed off the inside of the post, the ball went across the goal and gave Warren Kayembe a simple tap in at the far post, 2-0 Frenford heading into the half time break, and Woodford's unbeaten start to the league campaign was in serious jeopardy now.
That unbeaten start looked almost certainly to be over too on the hour mark when Frenford added a third, Liam Foster sending a cross into the mix but it ended up catching keeper Allan off guard and the ball sailed over his head and into the far corner despite his best attempts to keep it out, there was no way Foster meant to find the net, but this was the hosts day and they had a 3-0 lead and the game had a score line no body could have predicted.
Woodford tried their best to get back into the game and salvage something, but it just was not their day today, although with four minutes of the ninety to go they did win a penalty after Marcus Painter was brought down inside the box, and Chaynie Burgin stepped up to dispatch the spot kick, and then a melee ensued in the goal net as Woodford tried to get the ball off keeper Jimmy Parker so they could restart the game quickly.
The hosts were in no rush unsurprisingly and were now doing all they could to prevent Woodford from really making a game of it and make the last few minutes very nervy indeed, the visitors did manage to grab a second goal back five minutes into stoppage time when a ball to the back post saw Luke Steele find the post and the ball went into the six yard box where a mad scramble saw the ball put in by somebody (I had no idea who!!!) but according to FWP it was David Gokou, but it was anyone's guess really.
However, after another melee with Frenford holding onto the ball and Woodford trying desperately to get it back and restart the contest following the goal, the referee blew immediately after the restart and Woodford had run out of time in trying to salvage an unlikely escape, meaning their unbeaten start in the league ended here.
A fabulous win for the hosts then as their decent start to their campaign continued, whereas for Woodford they taste defeat for the very first time in the league this season, and conceded three goals in one game after only conceding one in seven league games this season, and it also meant they slipped to third as a result too.
Full time Frenford 3 Woodford Town 2
Right, what else happened in the division today, let's have a look:-
Athletic Newham 1 Stansted 0
It was tenth placed Newham up against thirteenth placed Stansted, both these sides have been trending in different directions recently, the hosts good start to the season has stalled somewhat, whereas the visitors have picked up after a poor one, but it was a solitary goal from Jaime Obama Nvumba that settled this one midway through the first half to hand the hosts all three points.
Barking 5 Benfleet 2
The Blues were playing only their fifth league game of the campaign due to their good run in the FA Cup, they had won half those league games thus far but were up against a Benfleet side who had taken to Step Five football like a duck to water and sat sixth in the division having won five of their eight matches so far. The Blues though had pretty much won this contest by half time after a devastating first forty five minutes, Taylor Lawrence had given Benfleet a seventh minute lead from the spot but that was as good as it got for the visitors, Marcel McDonald levelling after nineteen minutes before Juwon Akintunde gave the hosts the lead three minutes later. Ezekiel Bademosi then extended their lead just two minutes after that before Andre Anderson netted a fourth for a rampant home side just before the break, and although Sonny Hartman pulled one back just past the hour mark, Sam Shaban completed the scoring with a minute to go and cap a fine afternoon for the home side.
Buckhurst Hill 2 Takeley 1
It was 14th placed Hill against fifth placed Takeley at Roding Lane, the hosts would have been boosted after netting their second league win last time out, a late late win at Athletic Newham, but they were up against a Takeley side who have only lost one of their eight league games so far, but it was Hill who made it back to back wins for the first time this season after first half goals from Teye Okunlola & Suley Zuhdu proved enough for the hosts to take all three points, despite Lanre Balogun's second half goal for Takeley in the 64th minute to reduce the arrears.
Great Wakering Rovers 5 Halstead Town 1
On paper this looked like only one result, second placed Rovers, and only second to Woodford on goal difference, were taking on a Halstead side who were third bottom with only four points from their seven games so far, but at half time a big shock looked on after Alfie Lambert's 35th minute goal had the visitors one goal up at the break. But, Rovers put in a superb second half showing and levelled barely a minute after the break through Harry Brown before Callum Boylan & Harrison Topliss added further goals to open up a 3-1 lead. George Frodsham was then sent off for the visitors and Harry Talbot added a late brace to hand the hosts a thumping win to take them top of the division.
Hullbridge Sports 1 FC Clacton 3
Mid table Hullbridge welcomed rock bottom FC Clacton to Lower Road knowing the pressure was all on them to win this one considering the visitors have only two points from nine games and are struggling in more ways than one this season, and when Freddie Moriaty gave the hosts a 16th minute lead, FC Clacton could have been forgiven for thinking here we go again. But no, the visitors fought back and levelled through Luwa Luwabelwa ten minutes before half time and then took the lead with eleven minutes to go when Robert Adams netted, and the visitors sealed their first win of the season when Emmanuel Ikwuegbu scored deep deep into added on time, and hand FC Clacton a huge three points in a season that has so far been horrendous for them.
Ilford 1 Stanway Rovers 2
The Foxes returned to Cricklefield finally for this one, and the second bottom side in the division had a tough assignment as they welcomed third placed Stanway Rovers to their shores, and it proved to not to be the winning return to Cricklefield they had hoped for as goals from Harrison Chatting and George Okoye proved enough for the visitors to take the points, despite a late goal from Joel Appiah to give the hosts some hope of a fightback.
Little Oakley 2 White Ensign 1
It's been another solid start to Oakley's season, they sat seventh in the division after eight games played, and they welcomed 12th placed Ensign to the outskirts of Harwich knowing they would be in a tough fight against a side who always give 100% and have had a reasonable start to their season too. Oakley were to prevail in this one though, Rory Harman gave them the lead just past the half hour mark before Bobby Rea doubled that advantage on the hour mark, Nathan Wilson netted in stoppage time to reduce the arrears but it wasn't enough for Ensign to prevent defeat here.
Saffron Walden Town 4 Sawbridgeworth Town 1
Eighth placed Walden are starting to hit their stride now, no defeats since a shock one on the opening day, and they were welcoming fourth bottom Sawbo to Catons Lane who have only four points from their nine games so far, Charlie Morris gave Walden an early lead but Sawbo managed to hit back through Jaydon Charles. Morris though restored Walden's lead just before the break before Tom Head & Solomon Ofori netted further goals in the second period to see the hosts take all three points.
West Essex 1 Romford 3
It's been a disappointing start to the season for West, eight games played, five defeats, and the 16th placed side were welcoming a tough Romford outfit to Wadham Lodge, the visitors sat in fourth spot and had only lost one of their eight league games so far, and it started well for the visitors too as goals from Arnold Mengi & Brendan Ocran had Boro two goals up in fifteen minutes. However, the visitors then saw Kojo Feyi sent off early in the second half, and then keeper Harry Girling sent off with just over twenty minutes remaining with the hosts netting a spot kick from Yemi Adelani in that sequence of events. The nine men though not only held on, but managed to clinch the contest with a third goal when Mengi netted his second in stoppage time and give the visitors the points.
Let's check out the table, broken into two because I could only grab it from my phone app as the website will not play ball at the time I wrote this!!!
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