Essex Senior League Peter Butcher Memorial Trophy Final, Wednesday 26th March
The final Wednesday in March saw the first of the cup finals take place in the Essex Senior League as the first silverware would be contested between Little Oakley & Great Wakering Rovers at Billericay Town's New Lodge ground.
Now Oakley are having a very sold season in the division and they have also reached the Semi Final of the Errington Challenge Cup, the league cup for the ESL, too so it's been a pretty solid campaign for sure, their route to this final though needed quite a bit of luck as three of the four contests were won on penalty shoot outs.
They began in the Preliminary Round with a shoot out win at Ensign before another away trip to Wadham Lodge in Round One saw shoot out success at West Essex, they then travelled to Mayesbrook Park to knock Romford out on spot kicks, and their fourth away trip in a row saw them actually take the win in normal time, away at Saffron Walden Town at Catons Lane, so to say they earned this final appearance would be an understatement.
GWR themselves are having a good season too and are still in with a shot at promotion, they are sitting in fifth and final play off spot currently and have a healthy five point gap to sixth placed Walden too, they also are in the semi finals of the League Cup, just like Oakley, in fact if both win their semi finals in that competition too then that final will be a repeat of this one.
Unlike Oakley though, GWR did not need penalties in any of their ties to get here, a 4-0 home win at home to Benfleet in the Preliminary Round was followed by a 2-1 success at Buckhurst Hill, they then netted another 4-0 win, this time away at Halstead Town in the Quarter Finals, before a narrow 1-0 win at home to Woodford Town in the Semi Finals saw them take their place here in the final.
The only time the sides met so far this season saw a 4-2 success for GWR at Oakley's Memorial Ground back in early September (they actually play each other at Burroughs Park on April 1st, which is next week) but how would this final pan out?
Well, it was to be no six goal thriller that's for sure, finals are rarely exciting are they, normally cagey niggly affairs with not much in the way of goalmouth action, well this one was no different sadly although the Green and Whites were always the ones who looked likelier to find a breakthrough if one did come.
GWR were certainly the ones who felt at home, three quarters of the superb crowd of 505 were from the small village near Southend, and they were making plenty of noise behind the goal their side were attacking, but their fans were getting frustrated as the game continued along at it's tight and physical affair, and the first shot on target didn't come till first half stoppage time, that kind of summed up the contest.
Would the second half be any better, well GWR certainly again were the ones looking the more likely to score, although Oakley had their moments just to keep their opponents honest, but as the game entered it's final quarter, you started to think this may well be headed for extra time, but in the 72nd minute came the winning moment.
A ball in by substitute Kingdom Dawson was helped on by Ben Search, into the path of both Callum Boylan & Bradleigh Rowland & it was the latter who managed to stretch out a leg and prod the ball beyond Oakley keeper Billy Lawlor who had come out to try and beat them to the ball, and see it go over him and into the net to send those noisy Rovers fans wild with delight, they had around twenty minutes to hold on and claim some silverware.
Things got slightly better for Rovers as well in the 77th minute after Oakley skipper Lewis Wood was sin binned for dissent, but Wakering could not take advantage of this and in fact it was them hanging on a bit at the end as Oakley threw everything at Rovers in search of a late leveller and force an extra half hour and maybe penalties.
Rovers though did hold on after several tense minutes of added on time and claim the Peter Butcher Memorial Trophy for 2024/25, commiserations to Oakley who could have levelled late on, but Rovers probably deserved the win overall and celebrated with their fans accordingly after, not the greatest final by any means, but a winner in normal time nonetheless, well done Great Wakering Rovers!!!
Full time Little Oakley 0 Great Wakering Rovers 1
Now there was some league action in the ESL on Tuesday, so here is a look at what happened there:-
Tuesday March 25th
Benfleet 2 Takeley 3
Takeley kept their slim hopes of the title going with victory at Woodside, George Powell opened the scoring two minutes after the break to give Takeley the lead but Gianni Frankis levelled things up on the hour mark. Coby Miles though restored Takeley's lead in the 69th minute before that lead was extended by Jamal Obeng in the 84th minute, Jayden Oshitola did net a consolation deep into stoppage time but it was the visitors who earned another important three points.
Hullbridge Sports 3 Halstead Town 2
Sports took a huge stride to confirming their ESL status for next season with a big three points at Lower Road, Connor Hart put Hullbridge ahead nine minutes before half time but they were pegged back a minute before the break when Joel Older levelled for the visitors. Piers Hatcliff though restored the hosts lead two minutes after the break and then extended that lead just four minutes later, James Eveleigh did make it a nervy finish when pulling one back with thirteen or so minutes remaining however the hosts held on for a massive three points.
Saffron Walden Town 0 Buckhurst Hill 1
Walden suffered a huge blow in their chase for a play off spot as they were beaten at home by Buckhurst Hill, the only goal of the contest came twenty minutes into the second half from Alfie Harris, and it handed the visitors a welcome win.
Stansted 2 Athletic Newham 1
The Airportmen grabbed a huge win in their battle against the drop, Aaron Thomas gave the hosts the lead in the 17th minute and they were in dreamland when Charlie Portway doubled that lead just before the half hour mark. The visitors did respond through Wilson Mendes with around twenty minutes remaining to make it interesting, but Stansted held on to record a very important win.
Let's quickly see how that affects the table:-
Hullbridge are now eight clear of the bottom two after they won, Stansted are back to just three points off Sawbo with a game in hand after they won, so that final relegation spot is still to be decided with five/six games to go.
That's all for now, thanks for taking the time to read, and well done to Great Wakering Rovers in picking up the first piece of silverware this season in the division!!!
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