Isthmian League North, Saturday 7th February
The first Saturday in February saw me over at a local game at The Len Salmon Stadium, and it brought together two sides who used to do battle in the Essex Senior League, Bowers & Pitsea, who were promoted out of that division some years ago now up against a Takeley side who won promotion via the playoffs last season and were embarking on their very first season at this level.
Bowers themselves have been as high as the Premier Division until they came back down to Step Four again, and they are looking to get back to Step Three again and sat just outside the play off places in the North Division prior to kick off, and just the two points behind fifth placed Gorleston, fourth placed Stanway Rovers (who also came up from the Senior League last season) and only four points off third placed Waltham Abbey.
The gap to the top two was much bigger so these sides are most likely playing for a place in the post season, with Felixstowe & Walton United & Maldon & Tiptree well ahead of the rest, so Bowers with victory could end up as high as fourth come the end of the day, they were up against a Takeley side they had already played three times this season too, a 0-0 draw in the FA Cup (Bowers winning the replay 2-0 at The Len Salmon) and a 3-0 win at Takeley in the league, they they would have been confident of victory here. (Although several months had gone by since)
Bowers are also eight matches unbeaten, five of those wins too, and with the visitors down in 18th and only above the relegation zone on goal difference, you could be forgiven for thinking this would be a foregone conclusion, but, Takeley had been on a four match unbeaten run themselves until they lost a big game at home to fellow relegation threatened Downham Town last time out, which would have set them back a bit.
But draws against Brantham Athletic & Concord Rangers followed by a superb win at Witham Town before a 5-0 thrashing of Lowestoft Town preceded that, so they were looking to get back to that sort of form and hoping that loss at home to second bottom Downham was just a blip, although Bowers would be a much tougher assignment you felt compared to those sides, two of which were in the bottom four.
Takeley though knew if they could knit another run together they could put some daylight between themselves and the bottom four, and starting here at Bowers would certainly give them a lot of confidence going forward, but after just seven minutes they fell behind and it was all down to them as well, a poor headed back pass towards keeper Jarvis Monk saw Michael Bareck intercept, and he duly rounded the keeper to slot in from an angle and hand Bowers an early advantage.
And that advantage was doubled just before the quarter hour mark, Bareck turning provider this time by playing a ball to Jon Evans who placed a lovely finish beyond Monk into the far corner, the hosts were in total control and Takeley already had a mountain to climb before they had even got going.
Bowers dominated for the opening twenty five minutes or so and could have added to their lead but sent a couple of glancing headers wide, when Takeley did finally settle, they created a couple of decent chances, one effort deflecting off the post, and another forcing a fine diving save from home keeper Jo Whitney, Takeley knew if they could grab the next goal it would give them the momentum and a possible route back into the contest.
Whitney had to deny the visitors early in the second period as well, but, nine minutes into the second half calamity for the visitors as they handed the hosts another goal, Monk attempted to clear with Jamie Salmon closing him down, and the smashed the clearance against Salmon's head and the ball went back past Monk and as he chased the ball back it beat him into the net, a mess of a goal to concede but Bowers now had a three goal cushion.
Bareck was putting in a MOTM performance sure, and he should have added his second of the game and Bowers fourth when after Kai Regrave had played a wonderful ball across the box, all Bareck had to do was apply the finishing touch at the far post, but he could not even find the target, despite this Takeley actually had a lot of the ball after going 3-0 behind, they did test Whitney again before they did pull a goal back with eleven minutes to go, substitute Joseph Pullen powering home a decent header, game on perhaps?
Well, no, because pretty much from the restart, Bowers restored their three goal cushion, and it was Bareck who fired home a brilliant strike, capping his MOTM performance with two goals and a assist to boot, and any sniff of a way back into the game for the visitors was well and truly snuffed out.
And with four minutes left of the contest, Bowers added another, substitute Elton Tettey waltzing into the box before firing a left footed shot past Monk, the scoreline was probably harsh on the visitors but they had shot themselves in the foot twice and also conceded after they got themselves a lifeline, and you cannot do that against a Bowers team who have so much firepower.
It's a result that takes the hosts up into fourth spot and into the play off places and extends their unbeaten run to nine, whereas for the visitors this actually drops them into the bottom four and the relegation spots on goal difference, such was the damage this result did to it, and that's back to back defeats now for Takeley, not the week they wanted for sure.
Full time Bowers & Pitsea 5 Takeley 1
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