Leigh Ramblers 8 Bishop's Stortford Swifts 1 - Patrick Cannon & Luis Bracci both net braces as hosts Leigh Rams net eight to dismantle Stortford Swifts at Len Forge in the Essex Olympian Premier

Essex Olympian League Premier Division, Saturday January 11th

With the freezing January weather causing havoc with the local football and with pretty much everything on grass being postponed, I popped over to watch a local Essex Olympian Premier Division contest between Leigh Ramblers & Bishop's Stortford Swifts.

The game had been moved from Rams normal venue at Belfairs to make sure this game went ahead, and with the sun beating down their was never any issue with the 3G surface freezing over, so both sides had a perfect playing surface to do battle on, and both sides were looking to break into the top half of the division too.

Eight placed Rams were having a mixed season having won seven and lost eight and to be honest Swifts themselves were having a very similar campaign, they were in ninth and only below their opponents today on goal difference so on paper at least you expected a very tight and competitive battle.

It turned out to be anything but though, the tone was set inside the opening ten minutes, Rams grabbing the lead with barely two minutes on the clock when they got in behind the visiting back line before a ball across found Billy Ransome who fired home a first time effort, and after nine minutes it was two as Tommy Pinkerton received a pass from midfield after the hosts had won it back, and the striker cut inside before firing a lovely effort into the bottom corner.

And in the 21st minute you felt the game could be over when a corner from the left saw an unmarked Stuart Greaves head home back across goal into the net, and at 3-0 you felt the hosts would go on and net a few more.

To be fair to the visitors they picked it up a bit for the remainder of the half and just beyond the half hour mark found a goal to give themselves a sniff of a route back into the contest when a lovely ball to the back stick found Gavin Cockman who nodded home from a yard out, another goal back and they were certainly right back in this contest for sure.

But, right on half time they were to concede a fourth goal to really harm their chances of getting anything from the game when a nice move ended with a ball across the box saw full back and skipper Patrick Cannon run onto it to sweep home a lovely first time finish, meaning the hosts went into the break three goals to the good.

Swifts needed a erm 'swift' response in the second half if they were to have any chance of getting themselves back into this one, but in the 56th minute a slip at the back allowed Rams number ten Will Wheeler to get onto the ball before firing a rocket of a shot into the top corner giving the keeper no chance, and that was pretty much that in terms of the contest.

And just three minutes later Rams added a sixth and it was a second for skipper Cannon who saw a long range effort deflect past a helpless keeper and into the corner of the net, six for the hosts and it was a matter of how many now.

The hosts were to add another two before the end, netting a seventh with four minutes to go after Luis Bracci got in down the right hand side, and although his first effort was saved, it was parried back into his path for him to tap home, and then two minutes later Bracci had another when a ball over the top saw him run onto, beat the keeper to the ball and lofting a neat finish into the net.

A thumping win for the Rams then, and it took them up one place into seventh and vastly improving their goal difference from -3 to +4, not a bad day at the office then as they go into the top half of the league, a bad day at the office for Swifts who remain ninth but see their goal difference drop to -13 after today's events.

Full time Leigh Ramblers 8 Bishop's Stortford Swifts 1

There was only one other game that went ahead in the division today, and that was also on 3G, unsurprisingly, it took place at St Martins School in Shenfield/Hutton, let's see how that went:-

Shenfield AFC 4 Sungate 1

It was third placed Shenfield against second bottom Sungate, so only one winner here then? Well, the visitors did take a shock lead in this one, but that was as good as it got for the visitors as the hosts fought back to level when Freddie Madle turned home a ball from Ben Absolon, before Madle netted again after a cross/shot ended up in the net. George Nash then converted a good ball from Luke Williamson to make it 3-1, before Williamson then turned goal scorer by slamming home a volley to make it four and see the hosts to a routine win as expected.

Let's have a look at the table after today's games:-

Still looks like Old Southendian's title to lose, and this week it was announced they were applying for promotion to Step Six so right now they look nailed on to win it, but still a few games to go as yet so it's not over till it's over as they say.

Toby looked doomed down at the bottom, but the other relegation spot is between a few sides you feel so be interesting to see how that pans out over the coming months.

That's all for now, thanks for reading as always.