Essex Senior League, Wednesday 22nd April
My first game back in the UK for a month saw me head over to Roding Lane to see if Buckhurst Hill could officially confirm their place in the play offs next week by defeating a Harwich & Parkeston side who themselves were just playing for pride and grab as many points they could muster in their final two outings of the season to try and maybe pinch 12th spot off Hackney Wick.
The Stags knew just a point would officially see them claim the final spot in the play off zone although after their weekend win at Benfleet it was pretty much guaranteed (unless Ilford could overturn a goal difference of fourteen and hope Hill lost their last two, unlikely) but they knew if they could pick up maximum points in their final two games, a home semi final in the post season was more than achievable.
Harwich though are no mugs and have had a very solid campaign this season back at this level, they sat 13th having picked up forty points in their campaign so far, 12th was still achievable if they could net wins in their last two, but it would be a tall order against a Hill side who had only lost twice in the league since late October, and those came in narrow defeats at leaders Oakley & second placed SOUL Tower Hamlets.
Hill then would have been confident, but the last time I saw Harwich was away at SOUL, and they could easily have been two or three goals up in the one before Hamlets took the lead, and only a second half five minute onslaught from the hosts ended that one, but, had Harwich been more clinical, they could easily have upset the apple cart there, and in the first half of this game they had chances to make life difficult for their opponents, but again that sharpness up front deserted them.
The hosts had chances too, and they managed to convert one of them just past the midway point of the half, Archie Hammond saw a couple of efforts blocked from close range before he prodded a third effort into the net, it's certainly not something Hill have struggled with this season, finding the net, and they managed to go into the half time break with a slender lead in what had been a very tight first half.
The second half saw The Stags dominate the ball a lot more and as the half wore on become more and more dangerous, Harwich had their moments but not like the first period for sure, they had seen Hill double their advantage on the hour mark too with a lovely flowing move following a visiting attack, Yannis Mengou went down the right and played a lovely reverse pass to Nathan Sollosi who then played a ball across to Marko Protic who calmly slotted the ball home, and in looked as if Hill had found a third when a close range header appeared to cross the line, but the officials said otherwise, much to the bemusement of some.
Hill continued to play their lovely brand of football but Harwich hung tough and kept going too, much to their credit with nothing much to play for, but in the end The Stags ran out winners to officially confirm their spot in the play offs, well done to them, can they achieve the impossible dream of promotion to step four, well, no reason why not.
Full time Buckhurst Hill 2 Harwich & Parkeston 0
Let's then have a look at the Essex Senior League table heading the final day of the regular season:-
A little Oakley win at home to Basildon United on the final day will see them win the title and promotion to Step Four, any slip up though and SOUL could pinch the title from them with victory over Halstead Town at Rosemary Lane. All four sides in the play off race can still achieve second and third and a home play off semi final next week, well apart from SOUL who cannot play at Mile End so will be away regardless of where they finish in play offs if they do not win the title.
Down at the bottom their are five teams who can still go down, can Frenford complete the great escape and give Forbsy and Co the greatest send off after 19 years with the club, they host West Essex who themselves officially confirmed their Step Five status recently, second bottom Athletic Newham have a monumental game at fellow relegation threatened White Ensign, Vase winners of 2024 Romford host Harwich & Parkeston needing to win to make sure they cannot be caught, and Sporting Bengal hosts Woodford, it sure proves to be a rather tense afternoon for those sides involved in preventing relegation to Step Six.
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