Essex Senior League, Saturday 1st November
On the first day of November I headed over to Roding Lane in Buckhurst Hill to check out Hill against a Benfleet side who were punching well above their weight this campaign and were harbouring hopes of an outside chance of getting into the play off hunt, especially if results went their way this weekend and they grabbed a positive result here.
They sat in ninth spot at kick off and just the five points off the top five and were up against a Buckhurst Hill side who were down in 15th spot and some eight points behind their opponents although the ones in the know, know, that the hosts are a much better side than the table suggests and would certainly give Benfleet a good competitive game on their own patch.
Well, nobody predicted the start of this one, as the hosts found themselves three goals up inside ten minutes, after a bonkers start which saw the visitors defend in a totally uncharacteristic way, the game was around fifty seconds old when the first goal went in, Harry Lusher pouncing on some really shoddy defending to allow him to get in to slot past Flo Gislette, and the game was barely three minutes old when Lusher fired a superb effort across goal into the far corner, 2-0 and Benfleet didn't know what had hit them.
And when Tyler Dolan strolled behind a static Benfleet backline to finish beyond Gislette for 3-0 after just eight minutes, the visitors were just totally bemused with their start and we were all bemused at how this game had begun, nobody saw it coming but already the visitors had a fairly large mountain to scale, at least the game was only eight minutes old, but it didn't get any better for the visitors when Hill added another just past the half hour mark.
It came when after excellent work by Dolan down the right, his ball in saw Dimitri Nicolaou run onto the ball to send a first time effort thundering past Gislette and into the visitors net, 4-0 after 32 minutes, wowsers, but fair play to Benfleet, they soon had a goal back to at least have one positive of the first period, it was excellent work from Toby Dickinson down the left, and he stretched out to send the ball across the box for Max Jobson to fire home past Christian North, 4-1, that is how it remained till half time meaning Hill still had a three goal cushion heading into the dressing and leaving us all to having a breather after a rather mad first forty five minutes.
What would we get in the second period? It was a much more competitive second half that's for sure, and in fact Benfleet were much better in the second half and at times did put their opponents under pressure, had they got a second goal back quickly enough it may have made a difference you never know, but they just could not test keeper North that much despite this, and in fact as the half went on it was visiting keeper Gislette who prevented further goals from the hosts, making some decent stops.
It was a strange one though, the opening half hour really decided this game, and if Benfleet hadn't started so slowly they may well have got something out of the game, but kudos to Buckhurst Hill who played brilliantly in that first half, especially the opening half hour, and as a result run out 4-1 winners to give their season a boost, Benfleet's afternoon didn't end well either when they saw Billy Purdy sent off for a poor challenge deep into added on time to end the game with ten men.
It took the hosts up a place to 14th and only five points off now tenth placed Fleet, who themselves are still only six points off the playoffs but will no doubt have an enquiry into how they started the game, it was very unlike them indeed, but Hill punished them to the full for that slow start so should be applauded for that.
Full time Buckhurst Hill 4 Benfleet 1
Right, that wasn't the only action in the ESL this weekend, their were nine other games that took place, starting on Friday night, let's see what happened in those games shall we:-
Friday
Hackney Wick 1 Halstead Town 3 (The Humbugs got back to winning ways with a superb win at Spa Road against Hackney Wick, Kane Gilbert's 15th minute penalty put the visitors ahead before Joel Older netted just past the half hour mark to make it two. Leo Lopate redcued the arrears just before half time, but Halstead saw Older grab a second mid way through the second period)
Saturday
Barking 1 Romford 3 (Romford stunned landlords Barking and ended their 100% home record with a superb win at Mayesbrook, Christian Adu Gyamfi handed the visitors the lead on eleven minutes before Flynn Hamilton doubled their lead midway through the first half. Tyreece Robertson reduced the arrears ten minutes after the break to give Barking hope, but a 99th minute goal from Kevin Musimami sealed a morale boosting win for Romford)
Frenford 1 Basildon United 2 (The Bees continued their good recent revival after they heaped more misery on bottom side Frenford at The Drive, Jadon Yamoah gave Bas the lead on 22 minutes before Kegan Caull netted a second for the visitors twelve minutes after the break. Jake Barlow did give the hosts brief hope when netting in stoppage time, but it was too little too late for the hosts as Bas grabbed all the spoils)
Hullbridge Sports 1 Athletic Newham 5 (In the big game towards the bottom of the division, Athletic Newham netted five as they recorded a big win against Hullbridge at Lower Road. Kevin Akpoedafe netted after just three minutes to give the visitors the lead before Akiljo Balliu added another on the half hour, Billy Willis did immediately reduced the arrears but George Rankin added a third for the visitors just before the break. Carter Ford then added another before half time to send his side into the break 4-1 up, before Bridge were reduced to ten men when substitute Billy Boag was dismissed with thirteen minutes to go, and a late goal from skipper Jonathan Ogunsanya completed the rout)
Little Oakley 1 Sporting Bengal United 0 (Match abandoned at half time due to floodlight failure) (The match at The War Memorial was abandoned at half time with Oakley 1-0 up after the lights failed, Louie Arnold's seventh minute goal had the hosts ahead, but they will both have to go again after this one could not finish)
Soul Tower Hamlets 2 Great Wakering Rovers 0 (League Leaders Soul continued their great season and bounced back from defeat to see off Great Wakering Rovers at Mile End, Shomari Barnwell handed the hosts a 3rd minute lead before Georges Kebi added a second early in the second half to hand the hosts a ninth league win of the campaign)
West Essex 1 Saffron Walden Town 1 (Struggling West were moments from recording a huge win against in form Walden but conceded late on, Reece Simpson gave West a 16th minute lead and this looked like enough to record victory, that was until goal machine Kaleel Green netted three minutes into added on time at the end of the game to salvage a point for the visitors)
White Ensign 1 Ilford 4 (The Foxes continued their excellent league form from October to record a thumping win against White Ensign at Burroughs Park, Daniel Izekor netted the opener on 17 minutes before adding a second eight minutes later, Joel Appiah then made it three in the 39th minute before Maksym Trush made it 4-0 early in the second period. Daniel Guy was then sent off late on for the hosts before they did add a late goal through George Godfrey, but Ilford were home and hosed well before then)
Woodford Town 3 Harwich & Parkeston 0 (Woodford Town kept up the pressure on the league leaders after they netted a home win, David Gokou-Siakouri gave the hosts the lead mdiway through the first period, before he netted again five minutes before the break, and Marko Protic then added another six minutes into the second half to seal the points)
Let's have a look at the updated table following this weekend's results:-
Soul Tower Hamlets have a three point lead at the summit after they bounced back today, that is ahead of Woodford & Halstead who both won this weekend too, all the other teams below them failed to win but it is still really tight at the top, Ilford are now up to eighth after four wins from five league outings, and only four points off the play offs now.
Athletic Newham's big win at Hullbridge sees them out of the bottom two and up to 17th, the bottom three as it stands now failed to win, Frenford are now four points from safety after they suffered another defeat, four of the bottom half sides won to maintain their positions, with Buckhurst Hill & Romford pulling off rather surprising results against higher placed teams, showing how competitive the league is. Still, only four points separate 14th to 19th, so tight down the bottom as well.
Anyway, that is all for this blog, thanks for reading as always!!!
