Essex Senior League, Friday 31st July/Saturday 1st August
The Essex Senior League is back, and it began on the final day of July at Wadham Lodge as a new look West Essex who are expected to do much better than they did last season, take on Heybridge Swifts, who many expect to be at the sharp end of the table having come down from Step Four last season and have recruited well.
Their was a full list of fixtures this weekend as all sides got underway, the other nine would take place on the first day of August and I my double header would start at Wadham Lodge and then move to The Hive as Basildon United, under new manager Ben Coleman, took on Romford, also under new management headed by Darren Manning. It's fair to say people are unsure on how both sides will fare this season, but no doubt this game would show us what each side had in the locker.
Anyway, before we head to The Hive and the rest of the Saturday action, let's see what happened on the opening night in E17:-
Friday 31st July
West Essex Vs Heybridge Swifts
On yet another beautiful summer evening, the ESL got underway, and a bumper crowd of 215 were there to see it kick off with what was an intriguing contest between two sides who are confident of the season ahead, both have recruited well but both come into the season off the back of very differing ways.
West looked odds on to go down last season at times but recovered well to survive and take their place once again in the division, Swifts on the other hand had a season to forget last season on and off the field, resulting in relegation from the Isthmian North and a total re shake at the club, bringing in a number of players who have good experience in this division and a new management team with Luke Wilson at the helm.
Some thought this would be a nice easy start for the visitors in their quest to bounce back from relegation, but this West side are a different proposition this term, although the early exchanges certainly looked like the visitors would have an easy ride, they had a penalty shout turned down and then had one off the line as they dominated the opening 15-20 minutes.
West managed to ride that out, and thereafter took the game to their opponents once they had settled, and in winger Wesley Santos, they have one hell of a threat for sure as he caused the visitors plenty of headaches, however neither side could find the net and the game was duly goalless at the half, plenty for both to ponder, Heybridge knew now that things were going to be much tougher than they maybe first thought.
So what of the second half, well it wasn't the best of spectacles it has to be said and was a rather scrappy affair, Swifts made their lives harder in the 66th minute when Milo Grimes was given a straight red for lunging in after he lost control of the ball, although after this they actually posed more of an attacking threat, but it looked as if this game would drift towards a goalless conclusion with not much drama.
Well, as the game ticked into it's 90th minute, West were given a huge opportunity to take a huge win after being awarded a penalty following a handball, but, visiting keeper Callum Chafer had other ideas, saving the spot kick, but hang on, the referee then went over to his assistant and the penalty was ordered to be retaken as they adjudged Chafer had stepped off his line.
To say the visitors were upset with this was an understatement, but West had another bite of the cherry, but guess what, Chafer saved again, and was mobbed by his team mates once again, he had prevented what would have been a very surprising loss on the opening night, but as it turned out the game would finish goalless and both sides pick up a point on the opening night.
Certainly a dramatic end to this one, West would be happy with a point and a clean sheet against one of the fancied sides this season, but equally gutted they could not take their opportunity at the end, but they will cause teams problems this season for sure, as for Swifts this was an eye opener for them and shows them how tough this league will be this season as everyone will be out to get them so to speak, but they have more than enough quality to deal with that for sure.
Full time West Essex 0 Heybridge Swifts 0
Onto Saturday then, and The Hive, as Basildon United & Romford got their seasons underway, let's see how that one went:-
Saturday 1st August
Basildon United Vs Romford
These sides will want to forget last season, both had turbulent times and it resulted in them only surviving the drop into Step Six by two and three points respectively, finishing next to each other in the table (15th & 14th) with the visitors one point better off, so both were looking to make sure they were not in a relegation fight this season.
No doubt a good start was the order of the day in each sides minds as their seasons kicked off, whatever their ambitions were to be for the season ahead, and it was the hosts who had most of the play in the opening exchanges without really testing visiting keeper Conor Beattie, but once the visitors settled they created two great opportunities.
However, it appeared that the game would be goalless at the break, that was until deep into added on time at the end of the half, hosts keeper Enriqu Kalsi failed to come for a ball that a fellow defender left for him, and visiting striker Jaxon Brown took his chance and snuck in between them both to nod the ball over the stranded keeper and into the net, meaning the visitors would go into the break a goal ahead.
Could the hosts respond in the second period? Romford didn't help their cause too much after goalscoring hero Brown turned villain when after he got a bloody nose from a challenge and didn't get a free kick, he made his feelings clear towards the referee and was immediately sin binned early in the second period, and right at the end of that period of the visitors having a man light, The Bees levelled, a ball into the box bounced up perfectly for the run of centre half Lochlain Murray to nod beyond Beattie in the 66th minute.
The Bees were on the front foot and looking the likelier to go in front as they dominated, but they saw one terrific chance thwarted by Beattie, and another one volleyed over from close range after a nice move down the right, Robbie Allen & Lesedi Mbegabolawe were particularly threating for the home side, but they just could not find that second goal.
And sure enough in the 84th minute, Romford made the hosts pay for those misses by netting the winner, a corner from the right was flicked on into the six yard box where substitute Alfie Leach, who had only come on three minutes before, was on hand to touch the ball home and hand the visitors a win they probably didn't deserve, but they will not care one jot about that.
It was harsh on Basildon who more than did enough to get something from this one, but they can take plenty of positives from it and looked more than useful for sure, as for Romford well they dug in and rode their luck and managed to pick up all three points which for them would be a very encouraging sign to win when not at your best, that is normally a good sign when that happens.
Full time Basildon United 1 Romford 2
Onto the rest of the Saturday's action and for the weekend then, let's see how the others fared on the opening games of their seasons:-
Barking 4 Sporting Bengal United 2 (Michael Dixon netted a hat-trick as Barking got their season off to a winning start, Dixon netted twice inside fifteen minutes to hand The Blues a 2-0 half time lead, Harry Baker pulled one back early in the second half but another from Dixon & a late Alfie Attrill goal saw Barking open up a 4-1 lead. Frederick Agyemang did net a stoppage time spot kick for the visitors but it was too little too late)
Benfleet 1 Halstead Town 0 (An 88th minute goal from Cameron Harris proved enough for Fleet to earn a narrow win over Halstead at Woodside)
Clapton Community 0 SOUL Tower Hamlets 1 (Last season's runners up SOUL saw a 28th minute goal from Anderson Baro enough to claim an opening day win at The Old Spotted Dog against Clapton Community whose first game at this level end in a narrow loss)
Great Wakering Rovers 0 Frenford 2 (Maybe the surprise result of the day came at Burroughs Park as Frenford, who got a reprieve from relegation in the close season, saw off GWR to net three points on the opening weekend. Yousuf Hoque gave the visitors the lead midway through the first period before a stoppage time goal from Christian Gyamfi sealed a very good afternoon for the Ilford side)
Hackney Wick 2 White Ensign 1 (A new look Hackney Wick side grabbed an opening weekend win against Ensign at Spa Road, Yemi Adelani had given the visitors the lead ten minutes before the break but Peter Oyetunji levelled in the 56th minute before an 88th minute goal from Roberto Carvalho won the game for the home side)
Harwich & Parkeston 1 Hutton 0 (A first half stoppage time strike from Louis Bloom proved enough for Harwich & Parkeston to grab an opening weekend win over newly promoted Hutton at The Royal Oak)
Hullbridge Sports 0 Ilford 2 (The Foxes grabbed a superb opening weekend win away from home as they saw off Hullbridge Sports at Lower Road, Shaike Kamara handed them a 49th minute lead before they sealed the points in the 88th minute courtesy of a Patrik Oahkwe goal)
Saffron Walden Town 0 Woodford Town 6 (Woodford Town, back under the stewardship of Shane Baptiste, are fancied by many to give it a good shot this season, and they made some start with a statement win against a Walden side who have many changes this campaign. Uko Oji gave the visitors an eighth minute lead before Jibran Ahmed netted twice in the final ten minutes of the half to give them a three goal lead at the break. Ahmed then completed his treble just before the hour mark, and then further goals from Jaedon Phillips & Andre Anderson in the final fifteen minutes of the game sealed a very impressive win for one of the promotion favourites)
Here is how the table looks after the opening weekend, pretty pointless I know!!!
So, the Essex Senior League is underway for another season, sure to be plenty of twists and turns to come!!!
