Essex Senior League, Saturday 20th December
The last Saturday before Christmas saw me return to local football after a small break to watch what was billed as a very intriguing contest between a revived Hullbridge Sports outfit under new management and a Halstead side who were gunning for promotion and trying to get back on track after back to back losses before this contest today.
Since Mark Harrison and Liam Wallace had been appointed as Bridge management the mentality of the club and players had changed in just three games, all three won as well meaning their confidence and outlook had now totally changed, and are top of the form table this month too, a contrast to what had gone before, and they were up against a Halstead side who suffered defeat at Woodford Town last weekend before a cup loss at SOUL Tower Hamlets, both who are promotion rivals of course.
Despite this though Halstead would certainly prove a very tough assignment for the hosts and a real a litmus for this Hullbridge side and new management of where they really were, the visitors losses recently were very hard to take and could both have easily gone the other way, could they right that this afternoon, as said a very intriguing battle awaited us.
The opening exchanges were quite scrappy although I felt Halstead may have edged slightly, although neither side really carved out any real chances of note, but then on 26 minutes came the opening goal, and out of the blue from the hosts, a lovely ball in by Kelson McFarlane found Kamel Sassi who sent a lovely looping header over visiting keeper Charlie Turner and hand the hosts the lead.
It was a lead that was only to last a couple of minutes though as Halstead found a leveller, the ball finding it's way to Joel Older who duly lashed home from around twelve yards and giving Michael Bett no chance whatsoever in the hosts goal, and just like that there were two decent goals to enjoy after a rather average beginning to the contest, scrappy as said.
The teams were to go into the break all square, but Halstead were to strike early in the second period, and what a goal it was too, Kane Gilbert received the ball and flicked it around the corner to give him some space before he sent a wordie of a strike beyond Bett and into the far corner, a truly wonderful strike, and Halstead now had the lead, how would this Hullbridge team react to this?
Well, as said earlier, the mentality of this side has changed recently, and maybe Bridge of old would have crumbled, but not a bit of it in this game, and with just over twenty minutes remaining found themselves on level terms and it was their skipper and centre half Darren Phillips who provided the powerful header beyond Turner to bring them level, twenty minutes or so to go, who was winning this one?
I still felt that the visitors had the more potent threat going forward and if anyone was to win I would have said they would have done, but what do I know, Ellis Devereux had been kept quiet in this contest and had hardly had a sniff at goal, but with 87 minutes on the clock, he got through on the Halstead goal and duly slotted home his only real chance of the contest to put the hosts ahead, could the Humbugs respond again?
They certainly put plenty of pressure on their opponents but Phillips amongst others defended superbly and managed to hold out to win and keep the new management's 100% record in tact, this was a big test of that today and they came through with flying colours, things are certainly looking up for them now, that's four wins from four in December.
For Halstead things are just not happening for them right now, that's three defeats in a row now but it could easily have been three wins from three, according to them, that's how it's going at the moment although they are still right in the promotion race in what is a very tightly packed table, a good watch though and an enjoyable afternoon indeed.
Full time Hullbridge Sports 3 Halstead Town 2
There were four other games today in the division, let's see how those panned out:-
Basildon United 3 Saffron Walden Town 2 (The Bees grabbed their second win of the month after ending Walden's 100% record for December with victory at The Hive, things were made harder for the visitors when Finn Barden was red carded on the half hour mark which lead to Nikolay Zlatev netting a spot kick to give the hosts the lead. Jack Wilson then increased that lead early in the second half and when Noor Mbaza Samuel made it 3-0 with just over ten minutes to go, it seemed that the hosts were cruising. They were made to sweat somewhat though when Sam Deering firstly pulled one back from the spot on 87 minutes before netting again deep into stoppage time, but it was too little to late for the visitors who ended up losing this one and see the hosts breathe a sigh of relief)
Buckhurst Hill 3 Sporting Bengal United 3 (David Komolafe's hat-trick so nearly gave Sporting Bengal United a stunning win at Roding Lane but saw a stoppage time leveller deny them a first win since September. Harry Lusher had given the hosts a 34th minute lead but the visitors fought back and levelled through Komolafe's first goal three minutes before half time, and he then gave them the lead ten minutes after the break but then saw Hill level courtesy of Arthur Massingham in the 67th minute. However when Komolafe netted an 86th minute penalty to complete his hat-trick, it seemed the visitors would end a run of nine successive defeats with a shock win, but it wasn't to be as Hill saw Tony Martin net in the eighth minute of time added on to break Sporting hearts and earn the hosts a very late point)
Great Wakering Rovers 2 Romford 2 (Romford earned a very decent point at Burroughs Park but it took a late Harrison Topliss goal to make sure Rovers got something from this contest. After a goalless first half it was Romford who got ahead ten minutes after the break through Flynn Hamilton, Rovers levelled through Harry Talbot in the 73rd minute but then saw Romford restore their lead through Henry Hart just two minutes later. However, Topliss brought Rovers level in the 81st minute and make sure the hosts did grab something from the game)
Little Oakley 1 Hackney Wick 2 (It's three defeats in four in all competitions for league leaders Little Oakley after they fell to defeat at home to Hackney Wick who picked up their first win in December. The visitors flew out of the blocks and were two goals up in 21 minutes, Andre Anderson netting the opener after eleven minutes before Mosope Oguntuga doubled that lead, and despite Jack Ladbrook's goal on 75 minutes giving Oakley hope, they could not muster anymore goals and saw Wick pick up a very decent win on the road.
How does today's action affect the table, let's have a look:-
In contrast to the top ten, nobody in the bottom half lost today, Wick grabbing a great win to be just off the top ten, Bas & Bridge also netted wins too which for the former takes them closer to the top ten whilst for Bridge they are now way ahead of the bottom two and in 15th now, and Romford/Sporting Bengal also picked up useful points to increase the gap to the bottom two.
That concludes today's blog and indeed any blogging till after Christmas, thanks for reading as always and I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and get everything you asked for.
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