Bryne 0 Aalesund 4 - Aalesund on brink of promotion back to Eliteserien after netting four first half goals against Bryne who need a second leg miracle to hold onto their top flight status and not drop back to the OBOS-ligean

Kvalifisering Eliteserien 2025 (Kamp 4), Sunday 7th December

It was my second ever visit to The Bryne Stadion on Sunday to see if the hosts, Bryne, could keep their place in the Eliterserien after their first season back in the top flight for over two decades has seen them struggle somewhat and end the season third bottom in the division, and in the relegation play off spot, they would be up against Aalesund, who finished fourth in the OBOS-ligean, and had come through two play off games to make this stage and give themselves a chance of promotion and relegating Bryne at the same breath, that first leg of the final to come later, but first, here is how the play off system works, and how it got to this stage and this fixture today.

It's known as Kvalifisering Eliteserien, basically Qualifying for the Eliterserien, the top division in the country, to see who would grab the final place in that league for the 2026 season.

This is how it works:-

This is how the top six ended up in the OBOS-ligaen, Norway's second tier, and as you can see Lillestrom & Start went up to the Eliterserien automatically, 3rd to 6th then play off to see who will play the team who finish third bottom in the Eliterserien over two legs to see who takes that final spot for 2026 at the top table, still with me? Hope so!!!

The opening game of the play offs (Kamp One, Kamp meaning Game for anyone who wants to know) sees 5th host 6th, on this occasion Egersund Vs Ranheim, the winner of that then travel to 4th place and winner of that travel to third, before the winners of that play Bryne, the side who finished third bottom in the Eliteserien, over two legs, let's see how those games went setting up the final two play offs games (Kamp 4 & 5).

Kamp One - Egersund 3 Ranheim 2

This game had a very dramatic conclusion, Mikael Johnsen put the visitors ahead six minutes before half time before Mathias Sauer levelled the game up in first half stoppage time, Ranheim then restored their lead through Aki Samuelsen with just over twenty minutes remaining to give them huge hope of getting into the next stage of the playoffs.  But, Oscar Kapskarmo levelled in the 84th minute before Scott Vatne's 95th minute winner sent Egersund through to the next stage!!!

Kamp Two - Aalesund 3 Egersund 1 (aet)

That meant Egersund travelled north to face Aalesund, and it looked for a very long time as if the visitors would prevail after Oscar Kapskarmo's 8th minute goal looked enough to send them into the next stage, but, another dramatic ending, this time going against Egersund, saw Kristian Lonebu's 91st minute leveller send the tie into an extra half hour, and further goals for the hosts from Fredrik Heiselberg & David Johannsson saw Aalesund into the next stage after extra time.

Kamp Three - Kongsvinger 4 Aalesund 5 (aet)

That meant Aalesund would now have to travel over to near the capital, Oslo, to take on Kongsvinger, who finished third after missing out on automatic promotion by a point, and if you thought the first two games were dramatic, it had nothing on what was to come in the third game of the playoffs. Henrik Melland gave Aalesund the lead in the 22nd minute only to see the hosts level three minutes later courtesy of Lucas Haren, but the visitors quickly restored their lead three minutes later through Paul Ngongo however, it was 2-2 on the half hour mark after Rasmus Christiansen restored parity for the second time.  Aalesund though went in front for a third time eight minutes before the break through a second of the game for Ngongo, and when Leonbu added his second and the visitors fourth soon after half time, they looked in control.  But not a bit of it, Kongsvinger reduced the arrears in the 55th minute through Jesper Grundt, and then levelled the tie at 4-4 in the 76th minute through Martin Vinjor meaning this titanic tussle would go to extra time!!! And with eight minutes of extra time remaining Phillip Aukland netted the winner for Aalesund to send them through to the two legged final of these playoffs against a broken hearted home side who saw Lucas Haren sent off late on in the extra half hour, phew!!!

This meant that Aalesund would now come up again Bryne, the side who ended their first Eliteserien season in over two decades after winning promotion last season third bottom and in that relegation play off spot as said earlier, Kamp Four of the play off rounds would take place firstly at Bryne, with the final game (Kamp Five) taking place in Aalesund, with the aggregate winners over the two games taking their place in the Eliteserien for 2026.

Anyway, now for the game I mentioned at the start of this blog and the one I am blogging on at The Bryne Stadion, at this stage the latest instalment in this play off series, who would grab the advantage going into the second leg next week, let's see:-

Bryne Vs Aalesund (Kamp Four, Bryne Stadion, Sunday December 7th)

It's fair to say the hosts first season back in the top flight for over twenty years had not gone as well as they hoped, but even their most ardent fan probably expected them to be in a relegation battle this season, and so it proved, although they did end quite a way above the bottom two as you can see below:-

As you can see, they finished way above Stromsgodset but they just could not pull themselves out of 14th and clear the sides above them, and had third bottom & that relegation play off spot confirmed in the penultimate weekend of the season, they did though end their regular season with a 4-1 win at Haugesund who had a season to forget to put it mildly!!!

This will give them some confidence heading into this game then against an Aalesund side who have been the proverbial yoyo club over past seasons, unable to stay in the Eliteserien but seemingly find the OBOS-ligean an easier division for them to bounce back, could they do the same here again, or would Bryne manage to hold onto that final place at the top table and not relinquish something they had worked so hard to achieve with promotion last season after over two decades away from the top flight.  Aalesund had certainly had a rather stressful and dramatic route to this game, maybe they thought that promotion was in the stars, who knows, despite only missing out on automatic promotion by three points themselves.

This was just the first leg of this final tie in the play off series, but a win for either side would certainly give themselves an advantage going into the second leg on Thursday further north at the Color Line Arena, so today was really about who could get themselves into a favourable position heading into Kamp Five.

The opening ten minutes saw the hosts try and dominate the ball, they couldn't create anything of note though and on twelve minutes were caught by a sucker punch of a counter attack from the visitors, Kristian Lonebu fired a shot from close range across goal and although this saved by the hosts keeper, the ball went across goal and fell invitingly to Mathias Christensen who had the simple task of side footing into the empty net and stun the home crowd.  

An early set back then for the home side, and it was to get even worse for the home side in the 26th minute who were once again caught on the counter by the visitors who looked like they could score every time they broke away, this time is was a lovely finish from the edge of the box from Christensen, a total opposite to the first goal he scored, and his second was a lovely curling side footed finish giving the keeper no chance, and now that early set back for the hosts was becoming a much bigger issue.

Bryne really needed the next goal, but it was increasingly looking likelier that the visitors would pierce a brittle home defence, and with around ten minutes of the half to go Lonebu attempted to go by a defender in the box and went to ground under a challenge, the referee pointed for a corner, but after a lengthy VAR review was sent to the screen and to no ones surprise (after the replay had been shown on the big screen) the penalty was awarded.

Everyone in the home stands prayed for a save or a miss, but Paul Ngongo made no mistake from the spot, firing home the penalty and putting Aalesund into dreamland, three goals up before half time, very unexpected and they were already in my mind, and probably in other peoples too, that they had one foot in the Eliterserien for next season.

Could it get any worse for the hosts, well, it did, three minutes before half time, a cross into the box saw Henrik Melland rise totally unchallenged to send a deft header into the corner of the net, and hand the visitors a scarcely believable four goal lead the the first half of this play off final first leg, the hosts and the home crowd were shell shocked, and their grasp on their Eliteserien spot was slipping and slipping away with every passing moment.

Boos and whistles greeted the half time whistle, unsurprisingly, and Aalesund's evening could not be going any better than it was, they had been ruthless with the chances they had created, they certainly had not outplayed the hosts but were just clinical when it mattered, and the home sides defending was not the best, and to be honest they were not brilliant going forward either, not a good recipe.

How on earth were Bryne going to get back into this contest and indeed the tie as a whole, well a goal or two would help for starters, but it was the visitors who could easily have added more in the early exchanges but they cutting edge was lacking in this half, thankfully for Bryne, but although the hosts certainly improved after the break I cannot remember the visiting keeper making a save of any note in the entire game, let alone the second period.

Aalesund were managing the game well too, and kept the hosts at arms length, if Bryne could have grabbed a couple back in the second half it may have given them a glimmer of hope for Thursday's second leg, but they never looked like scoring and the damage had been done in the first period, and Aalesund saw out the game to record a superb victory.

It means only a miracle now will prevent Aalesund from taking their place in the Eliterserien once again for 2026, and see the comebacks of all comebacks from Bryne from preventing them from dropping back down to the OBOS-ligean after just one season back in the top flight, and if truth be told, it's hard to see how that will happen, well done to Aalesund though, that was some clinical first half display and a good nights work in South West Norway.

Full time Bryne 0 Aalesund 4

   

Essex Senior League Round Up (Saturday November 29) - Oakley net late on to remain top, SOUL come from behind to win big clash against Barking, Buckhurst, Ilford continue brilliant runs, Bas, Ensign, Wakering, Fleet & Woodford also pick up wins

 (Action from Little Oakley's 2-1 win over Frenford at The War Memorial, picture courtesy of Frenford (@Frenfordfc))

The final Saturday in November saw a full list of fixtures go ahead in the Essex Senior League, let's see how those panned out:-

Barking 1 SOUL Tower Hamlets 2 (SOUL Tower Hamlets netted a very important win over fellow promotion chasing Barking to keep the pressure on the leaders Little Oakley after coming from behind to take the win at Mayesbrook Park. Tyreece Robertson had given the hosts the lead in first half stoppage time but saw Ashaan Siddik level things up early in the second half before Zack Newton netted what proved to be the winner in the 66th minute)

Basildon United 2 Harwich & Parkeston 1 (Nikolay Zlatev was at the double as Basildon United kept up their decent recent form by picking up all three points at home to Harwich & Parkeston. Zkatev handed the hosts an early lead and doubled this advantage on the hour mark, Shaun Avis did respond for the visitors five minutes later though however this wasn't enough to prevent the hosts from netting all the spoils at The Hive)

Buckhurst Hill 2 Athletic Newham 1 (It's a perfect five wins from five in November for Hill after they came from behind to defeat Athletic Newham at Roding Lane, Joao Crux stunned the hosts after just two minutes to give the visitors the lead but Dimitri Nicolaou levelled ten minutes before the break to bring the home side level. And then minutes into the second period Harry Lusher netted what proved to be the winner as the hosts capped off a fine month with another three points)

Great Wakering Rovers 4 West Essex 1 (Rovers continued their fine home form to keep tabs on the play off places after they defeated struggling West at Burroughs Park. Max Gnandi gave the hosts a 20th minute lead before Bradley Bennett doubled that lead seven minutes later, Reece Simpson did then pull on back in the 32nd minute to give the visitors brief hope but Alfie Whiteaker's 51st minute strike and a Ben Search goal just before the hour saw the hosts to victory)

Hackney Wick 0 Benfleet 2 (Fleet ended the month in the best possible way with a win as they saw off Hackney Wick at Spa Road, after a goalless first half the hosts saw Mohammed Sebalhi sent off five minutes after the break and this proved pivotal as the visitors took advantage of the extra man, seeing Aaron Russell give them the lead in the 56th minute and then see Mason Shave seal the points with twelve minutes to go)

Halstead Town 1 Romford 1 (The only draw of the day came at Rosemary Lane in front of over 300 as Halstead were held at home by Romford, Christian Adu Gyamfi handed the visitors a shock lead barely a minute into the second half but Kane Gilbert netted just past the hour mark to make sure the hosts salvaged something from this contest)

Hullbridge Sports 0 Woodford Town 4 (Hullbridge's difficult season continued after they were heavily beaten at home by promotion chasing Woodford, Marko Protic gave the visitors the lead in the 25th minute before a Malaki Toussaint goal three minutes before half time doubled their money. A 69th minute penalty from Protic increased Woodford's lead further still before a Emmanuel Okunja goal with just under twenty minutes to go completed a good day at the office for the visiting side)

Little Oakley 2 Frenford 1 (League leaders Oakley needed a late late goal to keep them top of the division and squeeze past bottom side Frenford at The War Memorial, Louis Arnold handed the hosts an eighth minute lead but the visitors stunned their opponents by levelling in first half stoppage time through Nathan Dennis.  And it appeared that the home side were about to lose top spot with only a point against their struggling opponents until Dan Keeble popped up in time added on to win the game for the home side)

Saffron Walden Town 0 White Ensign 2 (After two cracking wins it was one step back for Walden in this one as two early goals were enough for Ensign to leave Catons Lane with all three points. Albie Keith gave them the lead after just two minutes and the game was only eight minutes old when Riley Weir doubled that lead, those goals proved to be enough as well as Ensign got over the disappointment of last weekend's stoppage time debacle to net a very good win here)

Sporting Bengal United 1 Ilford 4 (The Foxes unbeaten run in the league was extended to ten games after they netted a second win over Sporting Bengal United in seven days, Joel Appiah gave them a third minute lead before Emmanueal Wazola doubled that lead just past the midway point of the first half, Brandy Makuendi then reduced the deficit nine minutes before half time but Nickal David Luzolo restored Ilford's two goal cushion on the hour mark. And a Rodney Dame own goal nine minutes from time sealed another good day at the office for the visitors)

Latest table below:-

Oakley's stoppage time winner keeps them a point clear of SOUL Tower Hamlets who were about to retake top spot after losing it in midweek with victory over Barking until that late goal in Oakley, Ilford took advantage of other results to boing into the play off zone, they haven't lost in the league since 13th September so are on a cracking run right now.

There are only four points separating fourth placed Ilford and eleventh placed Hackney Wick, it's so tight which is brilliant for us neutrals who cover the league, one of those sides in that fight, Buckhurst Hill, have now netted five wins out of five this month, a month which surely sees Mark Williams net the MOTM award from the league, this is yet to be decided but as you will see from my form table I have created below, it's hard to argue why this won't happen.

Down at the bottom and only Romford picked up any points as the other six sides lost meaning they all stay close together, with only seven points between 15th and bottom, above that there is a gap starting to appear now, so Harwich upwards have plenty of breathing room now to the ones below.

Right, that form table I was on about for November, here it is:-

This includes league and league competitions only, and as you can see Buckhurst Hill are in front having won 100% of their games, including a 4-1 over Benfleet and a 5-0 win at Catons Lane against Saffron Walden, it's been a remarkable month for Mark Williams side and in my view deserves the MOTM award for November, Ilford again have been in top form and Chris Davis deserves a mention and would be unlucky to miss out on this award again, last months winners of that award, Little Oakley, were also perfect this month so deserve praise too as they have now reached the summit of the division.

Basildon United have had a good month too and deserve praise, as have Woodford & SOUL, plenty of sides have had mixed months too, which in this competitive division is not a surprise, Barking & Halstead have certainly dropped off this month, whereas Frenford, Hullbridge, West & Sporting have struggled somewhat and will want to try and turn this around before long.

That concludes today's blog, I hope you enjoyed reading, until next time, bye bye!!!

1. FC Nürnberg 2 DSC Arminia Bielefeld 0 - Goals from Rafael Lubach & Finn Becker early in second half enough to see hosts net third straight win in Bundesliga 2 & end visitors three game unbeaten run in the process

German Bundesliga 2, Sunday 23rd November

The penultimate weekend in November saw me make a day trip to Nuremburg to take in a Bundesliga 2 contest between 1. FC Nürnberg & DSC Arminia Bielefeld in what was a first visit to the Max-Morlock Stadion on a cold crisp day in Southern Germany in my latest adventure in Europe.

After landing in the city early on the Sunday morning, and taking a stroll around what is a lovely city indeed, we made our way to the ground for what was a battle between two sides who were in mid table, FCN were in 11th spot but only five points above the drop zone, but they were in a much better position than they had been.

Manager, former German striker Miroslav Klose, no less, had been under immense pressure but a run of five games unbeaten leading into this contest and back to back wins in their last two had seen them pull away from the dangerzone, and if they could make it three straight wins then things would be looking even more rosy for the home side.

Bielefield themselves had lost four on the spin until a recent run of three games unbeaten had pulled themselves up to 9th in the standings, two of those being wins too, and they came into this contest two points above their opponents, so both sides had hit a good spell of form so to speak and therefore a decent battle was expected on a cold crisp afternoon.

The walk up to the stadium from the railway station had kiosks along it where you could purchase bottled beers and local food, and the entrance to the ground was a typical set up for Europe, with security ready to scan your ticket and give you a once over to make sure you had nothing dangerous on you to take into the stadium, once you got through that it was more kiosks and bars before you headed into the arena itself.

The Max-Morlock Stadion is a unique shape, and holds around 50,000, there were just under 34,000 in attendance, we were up near where the vocal home support was, pre kick off saw them all holding their scarves above their heads in what was a good spectacle, although once kick off came along the crowd stayed silent for the first twelve minutes as in many other stadiums, there was to be no atmosphere created during that period on this day due to current fan policy discussions in what was a protest against that.

However once that period of silence was over, the normal atmosphere at a German game took hold, and the hosts certainly had the better of the opening forty five minutes but despite this they only really tested the visiting keeper Jonas Kersken when Rafael Lubach saw a powerful effort beaten away at the near post, and it meant despite the hosts dominating the ball and applying most of the pressure, it was goalless at the half.

FCN though were to take control of the contest even more than they had done when they netted two quickfire goals in the early exchanges of the second period, the half was only three minutes old when the home side were awarded a penalty, I initially thought the referee had given a goal kick, but what actually happened was after Mael Corboz had caught Julian Justvan inside the box, a quick VAR review saw a penalty given, and a chance for the deadlock to be broken.

Lubach, who had gone closest to scoring in the first half, duly stepped up to convert the spot kick and hand the hosts a deserved lead, a lead they doubled just eight minutes later when Berkay Yilmaz created havoc once again and his ball to Finn Becker saw the latter apply a powerful left footed effort which beat keeper Kersken at his near post, joy for the hosts and their fans, they now had a two goal cushion.

At this point you thought the hosts would go on and win 3 or 4-0, they were in full flow, but as the second half wore on Bielefeld, who had been abject at best so far, began to apply more pressure on the hosts and see much more of the ball, despite this though they didn't really test hosts keeper Jan Reichert as the home side dealt with whatever the visitors could muster.

The closest Bielefeld came was a powerful effort from Leon Schneider which rattled the crossbar in the 89th minute, and before this the hosts could easily have been three goals ahead had substitute Adriano Grimaldi not headed a brilliant chance wide of the post from close range, but the visitors just never looked likely to find the net and FCN duly ran out winners and make it three wins on the spin and six games unbeaten now.

That takes them above Bielefeld into ninth spot, with the visitors dropping a place to tenth, if the hosts can keep this run of form going they could be looking upwards rather than down, although it would take a big effort to get amongst those promotion places for sure, the visitors see their brief unbeaten run come to an end here, and quite frankly they were fairly poor in this contest and only really applied any sort of pressure once they were two goals down.

Another good experience though and a thoroughly good outing with some good people, a long day but a great day, Nuremburg is a lovely city and I recommend a visit if you get the chance, and it's also a good stadium to visit too.

Full time 1. FC Nürnberg 2 DSC Arminia Bielefeld 0

Bowers & Pitsea 1 Chelmsford City 1 (Chelmsford City won 5-4 on penalties) - City through to Quarter Finals of BBC Essex Senior Cup after shootout success, Great Wakering Rovers, Hornchurch, Billericay Town, Maldon & Tiptree & Tilbury also through to complete Quarter Final line up

BBC Essex Senior Cup Fourth Round, Tuesday 18th November

I was over at The Len Salmon Stadium on the penultimate Tuesday evening in November to watch one of the six Fourth Round ties in the BBC Essex Senior Cup as fourteen sides looked to progress and join Aveley & Hashtag United in the Quarter Finals of the competition, those two booked their place in the Last Eight last week & the Quarter Final line up would be finalised on this evening.

More on the other five ties later, but for now let's concentrate on the tie between Bowers & Pitsea & Chelmsford City, one of the home sides coaches, Dan Blewett, had asked me to come over and watch so of course I agreed to this and it was nice to see him again after some time, and it was nice to get back over to watch a Bowers side who were not doing so badly this term, sitting seventh in the Isthmian North, six points outside the play off places.

They were though going to be severely tested in this County Cup tie against a Chelmsford City side who were climbing that National League South table and embarking on a very successful FA Cup run too, they are currently sitting ninth in the second tier of Non League and only one point outside the play off zone, so with them playing well right now and two levels above their opponents this evening, most thought that the visitors would get the job done.

The visitors had also gone pretty strong too, starting with six first team players and pretty much the side who had exited the FA Trophy on penalties against Hemel Hempstead at the weekend, so they were certainly not taking it lightly, and unsurprisingly it was the visitors who dominated the ball in the first half and had the bulk of the play, Bowers to their credit though did battle well and stand up to their opponents, but they were powerless to prevent a cracking opening goal ten minutes before half time when Archie Tamplin rifled home a superb strike from outside the box, and the visitors went into the break a goal to the good.

Despite City's domination of possession and play, they only had one goal to show for it, Bowers did show some flashes of attacking play in that first period and were very much still in the contest, and as the half went on and the score line remained the same, the hosts were always still well in the contest, both sides made changes, the visitors bringing on some younger players to give them some experience of first team football and a useful run out, but whether of not this helped the hosts gain more confidence as the half went on who knows, but they were beginning to threaten.

And with twelve minutes left, they found a leveller, Elvis Tettey received the ball on the left hand side and he cut inside onto that left foot of his before firing a lovely effort into the bottom corner, and the game was now for the taking with just over ten minutes to go, could one of the sides claim a late winner and prevent the tie going to penalties?

Bowers finished the game strongly and could easily have won it, but they had to remain wary of throwing too many players and not get caught on the break by a dangerous visiting attack, however, with neither side managing to find a winner, the contest did indeed need spot kicks to see who would prevail and send themselves into the Quarter Finals.

The hosts went first and saw their spot kick saved, not the ideal start, and with the remaining penalties scored by both sides it left the visitors with a match point with their fifth penalty, they duly dispatched this and so it was the National League South outfit who took their place in the next round, although well done to Bowers on such a good showing against a very decent outfit indeed.

Full time Bowers & Pitsea 1 Chelmsford City 1 (Chelmsford City won 5-4 on penalties)

So, well done to Chelmsford City on progressing, who else would join them, Aveley & Hashtag United in the Last Eight, let's find out:-

Great Wakering Rovers 3 Heybridge Swifts 0 (Essex Senior League side Great Wakering Rovers saw off Isthmian North Swifts to take their place in the last eight of the competition, Shaun Gittleson's 16th minute goal had the hosts a goal up at the break and second half goals from Harrison Topliss & and own goal from Joshua Parker completed a superb evening for the home side)

Hornchurch 4 Grays Athletic 0 (National League South leaders Hornchurch saw off Isthmian North Grays at Bridge Avenue to progress, Myles Weston gave the hosts a 26th minute lead before they doubled that lead early in the second period through Charlie Ruff.  A George Marsh own goal soon after that made it three for the home side and the scoring was completed with just under fifteen minutes to go when Darren McQueen netted for The Urchins)

Little Oakley 1 Billericay Town 2 (Isthmian Premier Billericay were made to work hard by high flying Essex Senior League side Oakley to take their place in the final eight of the competition, Ollie Parsons netted late in the first half to give Town the lead before Liam Nash doubled their advantage twelve minutes after the break. Oakley did saw Louis Arnold pull one back late on but it wasn't enough to prevent The Blues from progressing)

Brentwood Town 0 Maldon & Tiptree 3 (Isthmian North high flyers Maldon & Tiptree stunned high flying Isthmian Premier Brentwood to win through to the next stage of the competition. Macauley Bonne gave the visitors the lead on the quarter hour mark before Courtney Senior doubled their lead five minutes before half time, and they sealed their passage into the next round when Terrell Egbri netted a third early in the second period)

Tilbury 1 Harwich & Parkeston 0 (Kieran Jones 22nd minute goal proved enough for Isthmian North Tilbury to see off Essex Senior League side Harwich & Parkeston to take their place in the Quarter Finals of the competition)

There you have it then, the final eight sides left in the competition are as follows:-

Aveley (Isthmian Premier)

Billericay Town (Isthmian Premier)

Chelmsford City (National League South)

Great Wakering Rovers (Essex Senior League)

Hashtag United (Isthmian Premier)

Hornchurch (National League South)

Maldon & Tiptree (Isthmian North)

Tilbury (Isthmian North) 

Well done to all the sides above, the draw will be made soon for the Quarter Finals.  That completes my latest blog, hope you enjoyed!!!

Old Southendian 2 Old Chelmsfordians 3 / Old Southendian A 1 BKS Sports Reserves 8 - OCs win five goal thriller in Essex Olympian Premier, whilst Lucas Phillips nets six as BKS smash eight in BBC Essex Saturday Junior Cup

Saturday November 15th

I was over at Garon Park today for a double header of football on a dank cold misty mid November afternoon, there was a big clash in the EOFL Premier Division as Old Southendian hosted last years champions Old Chelmsfordians, who snatched the title away from their hosts in the process last season, and then their was an Essex Saturday Junior Cup tie between Old Southendian's A side and BKS Sports Reserves, so an action packed afternoon was in store.

First up was that EOFL Premier tussle, let's see how that went:-

Essex Olympian Premier Division

Old Southendian Vs Old Chelmsfordians

It had been a mixed bag for the hosts this season compared to the last two at least, they sat sixth in the division having only won five of their ten league games thus far, but only losing two in the flip side, OCs, who were the current champions of the division were having a better season having won seven of their thirteen matches and only losing a couple, although they were eleven points behind leaders Catholic who are threatening to run away with the division as it stood.

They were the leaders closest challengers mind along with Corinthians & Shenfield AFC, so the visitors knew they needed to keep winning and hope Catholic would lose a few, OS on the other hand were miles off the pace and defeat today and defeat today would see them fall further off the top places, somewhere they have occupied for the last two seasons at least, and also they were keen to get one over there opponents who miraculously stole the title from under their noses last season.

It started well for the hosts as well, nine minutes were on the clock when they were gifted the lead, a stray pass from the visitors sent Reece Munro clean through on goal, and he applied a lovely finish past visiting keeper Taylor Ellis to give the hosts a decent start, and hope of a decent win over their opponents, but in the 26th minute the visitors were to restore parity when a lovely strike from range by Joe Murphy saw hosts keeper Max Seymour get finger tips to it but only push it onto the bar and in, 1-1.

The visitors were now in the ascendancy and turned the match around six minutes before the break when a nice ball from Connor Jones found Jonny Waskett who provided a decent finish across keeper Seymour into the far corner, Jones did look offside from the original ball to him but this wasn't given and the visitors now had the lead.

Things might have been different had visiting keeper Ellis not produced three brilliant saves in the first period, the latter one of those the best of the lot when he somehow tipped a deflected effort from Nathan Elgie wide of the post, but the visitors after a slow start had improved and were good value for their slender lead at half time, could the hosts fight back and try and win this one, or could the visitors stamp more authority on the contest after the break.

Well, the second half was only six minutes old when OCs increased their lead, it was sloppy from the hosts too, caught out by a quick free kick over the top allowing Josh Brown to fire across Seymour and into the far corner, and now the hosts had a mountain to climb, although it was a mountain they certainly did their best to scale, that's for sure.

OCs did hit the bar from close range but despite this most of the pressure came from the home side as they pushed their opponents back, the visitors showed their grit and determination to keep them at bay, that was until the 63rd minute when Mitch Ali sent in a cross for Jordan Faulkner to apply a looping headed finish perfectly beyond Ellis, it was certainly game on, could the hosts find another?

They certainly tried but failed to find that killer moment, OCs did play on the counter and look dangerous, it was a superb game of football from start to finish, a game decided by 'moments' which is often the case in these battles, OCs though managed to hold on and secure a big win, a win that takes them into second spot, albeit still eleven points behind the leaders.

For the hosts it was a disappointing loss, they could easily have grabbed something from it, but defeat sees them slip down to eighth now and ten points off OCs and a massive twenty one off the leaders, it appears the cups, especially the Premier Cup, will be there best shot at success this season, but they certainly played their part in a wonderful contest, one that was very enjoyable to watch and cover.

Full time Old Southendian 2 Old Chelmsfordians 3

    

So, a superb first game of the day, as expected, how would Part Deux go, let's find out, there wasn't a lot of time between games so it sure was a quick turnaround!!!

BBC Essex Saturday Junior Cup 2nd Round

Old Southendian A Vs BKS Sports Reserves

This pitted EOFL Division Four South East Vs Division Three South East, OS's A side were not having the best season, sitting second bottom having only grabbed five points in nine games, and they were up against a BKS side who were a level above and also having a decent season too, sitting fourth in their division and only five points off the leaders.

Therefore you expected a comfortable away win although this isn't always the case when a higher level opponent plays someone from a lower level, however, on this occasion it was certainly to go the way of the higher league visitors, who grabbed a 17th minute lead when a long ball saw striker Lucas Phillips run onto it and round the on rushing keeper and calmly slot home, this was to be theme of the afternoon as well for the visiting striker who was to certainly fill his boots as the day went on.

Phillips was on hand to double the visitors lead just past the midway point of the first half, it was a typical poachers goal too, prodding home at the back post after the hosts could not clear their lines, and then seven minutes before half time it was three for BKS when Lewis Judge managed to burst into the box before producing a finish under the keeper, and as expected the visiting side went into the break in total control of this cup tie.

And then came a fifteen minute spell after half time that was truly remarkable and saw the visitors totally dismantle their opponents, in the 48th minute Phillips completed his hat trick by nipping in to round the keeper once again and slot home whilst off balance, and then two minutes later another clinical finish from that man Phillips made it five for BKS and four from the striker.

Another two minutes went by before BKS made it three goals in five minutes, Jamie Chapman, who actually ran the line in the first half (club linos of course) for BKS, came on as a sub at half time and netted their sixth, firing across the keeper into the far corner, and then it was seven just past the hour mark when you know who grabbed his fifth of the contest when firing emphatically across the keeper into the far corner.

And in the 63rd minute it was eight for BKS, Phillips once again firing a powerful, and clinical, finish beyond the keeper into the bottom corner, he has six and BKS had eight and there was still twenty seven minutes left, you really did feel for the hosts and feared for them, as at this stage BKS looked likely to reach double figures as this had turned very ugly for the home side.

To OS's credit though they actually then played some decent football thereafter and kept on going despite that horror spell after half time, and they were rewarded by grabbing a late consolation in the 87th minute when Spencer Ali, son of first team manager Altan, struck a powerful effort from outside the box which deflected home to at least see them end the contest on a positive note.

They had been well beaten though and it was BKS who cruised into the next round of the competition, Round Three, where they face another away trip, this time to Fleet, who ironically knocked out BKS Sports first team today, so a very weird occurrence where a side welcome a first team and then a reserve team of the same club in consecutive rounds, mad eh!!!

Full time Old Southendian A 1 BKS Sports Reserves 8

Not a good day for Old Southendian then, both teams losing to their respective opponents, but congratulations to both Old Chelmsfordians & BKS Sports Reserves on their wins, it was a very enjoyable day indeed, even if it was tad cold by the end of it!!!

That concludes today's blog, thanks again for reading, it's always appreciated!!!