BBC Essex Senior Cup Third Round, Tuesday 12th/Wednesday 13th October
It was back to the bread and butter of local football back in the UK, after my two and a bit weeks over in Norway, and I returned to action back in blighty with a couple of County Cup ties in the good old county of Essex, in the Third Round of the BBC Essex Senior Cup, and I attended two of the sixteen ties taking place this week in the round, and it all began at Lower Road on Tuesday night.....
Tuesday 13th October
Hullbridge Sports Vs Canvey Island
This tie brought together Essex Senior League highflyers Hullbridge Sports, who had began the season very well indeed, sitting in third spot in the table with seventeen points from their eight leagues games thus far, with only one loss in those games and five wins, visitors Canvey knew they would be in for a tough game, especially as they had not started their campaign quite as well.
Yes, the Gulls are in the league above, the Isthmian North division, but they are fifth bottom and just above the drop zone by a solitary point, having lost six of their ten league games so far and only picking up two wins, it was therefore expected that this was a potential banana skin for Canvey, but they would have still been expected to put up a good showing here and potentially see off their lower league opponents.
However, they were to be outplayed by their opponents in the opening forty five minutes, and it was no surprise and indeed totally deserved when Hullbridge took the lead midway through the first period, a long ball finding Kieran Jones perfectly in stride for him to send an effort beyond Kasey Clark, and then on the half hour mark Nick Dembele doubled the home sides advantage when firing a nice left footed effort across Clark and into the far corner.
Canvey tried to rally late on in the half and saw ex keeper Bobby Mason, now in goal for the hosts, punch away an effort, but it was a rare attempt on goal for the visitors who went into the break with plenty of work to do to try and get back into a tie they were second best in across all areas, the hosts had been superb and probably could have had a bigger lead at the break, but it was a lead that was to increase.
It came nine minutes into the second period, and it was another lovely finish, a ball across the box into the path of Archie McFadden saw him side foot beyond Clark to had the hosts a three goal lead, and a clinical hosts then made it four nil after Fred Agyemang burst clear of the back line to finish beyond Clark with twenty five minutes still to go, it was becoming an embarrassing evening for the visiting side who had no answer to a superb home outfit.
Things then got even worse for the visitors when they saw skipper Elliott Ronto shown a straight red with eleven minutes of the game remaining, and the hosts were to net twice more late on to really rubber stamp this incredible showing, Agyemang netting a second of the night when powering home a close range header in the 88th minute, and then seeing Matas Machovas complete the scoring in stoppage time and seal a wonderful dominant performance.
As good as Hullbridge were, and as impressive as they were, Canvey were equally as poor and disappointing, and will want to forget this night in a hurry, it was a very humbling experience against a side a level below them, although you would have thought Hullbridge were the Step Four side and Canvey Step Five, it was that comprehensive, a very good performance then from the hosts who are now into Round Four of the competition and will be ones to avoid for many.
Full time Hullbridge Sports 6 Canvey Island 0
And on Wednesday I was back over at New Lodge to see a tie between Step Five and Step Two, let's see how that one went.....
Wednesday 14th October
Hutton Vs Braintree Town
On paper this looked like a foregone conclusion, Hutton, who are in the Essex Senior League, were taking on a side three leagues above them in the pyramid in the Enterprise National League South, Braintree Town, and with the visitors going strong in this tie as well, surely the visitors would be able to put a difficult start to their season behind them and record a comfortable win here.
Braintree have not had the best of starts to their season in National League South as said, they were only above the drop zone on goal difference after just three wins in their opening eleven games, losing seven of those two, but up against a side who were at their first season in the fifth tier of non league football, you would of felt they would have enough against the hosts.
Hutton themselves had started their season slowly before a great week saw them net back to back wins in the league to kick start their season, so they had momentum heading into this one, but even with that it looked too much to continue this against a side who play at a much higher level, and in the opening twelve minutes, this seemed likely to be the case.
Only five minutes were on the clock when Town went in front, Andre Changunda firing home from inside the box, and when Alfie Matthews header back across goal went in off a defender, it looked as though it would be a long night for the home side, but not a bit of it, Hutton rolled up their sleeves a duly pulled one back immediately, with a ball across goal being converted by Ryley Duggin who was left totally unmarked.
And after Hutton had missed further chances to level, they did manage to equalise midway through the opening half when more poor defending from the visitors saw Johnny Ashman convert from close range, and all of a sudden Hutton were the ones in the ascendency and looking to go in front, some turnaround and not what anyone expected.
It remained level for sometime thereafter, Hutton missed more chances to go in front, Braintree did also miss some really good openings, two being headers that were somehow put wide from close range, and as the second half wore on it looked as if Town were starting to look stronger as the hosts appeared to be tiring, understandably, after all the effort they had put in against a Step Two outfit.
However, this wasn't to be the case, as Hutton then completed the turnaround with seven minutes remaining, a cross from the right finding Adam Vyse, on as a second half substitute, free inside the box to nod home and punish more poor defending from the visiting side, and it meant that Hutton were on the brink of quite an upset.
The hosts then had to dig in to prevent the visitors from finding a late late leveller to take the tie to spot kicks, but they did just that to record an incredible win against Braintree and dump the National League South side out of the County Cup, a superb achievement for the club, and a very embarrassing night for the visitors, especially after starting the contest so well too.
Full time Hutton 3 Braintree Town 2
So, two superb wins for Essex Senior League sides this week against higher league opposition to send them both into Round Four, along with fourteen others sides who also won through this week, here are the results from the other fourteen ties across the week.....
Monday 12th October
Redbridge 5 - 2 Brightlingsea Regent
Tuesday 13th October
Colchester United 2 - 0 Maldon & Tiptree
Little Oakley 4 - 0 Southend United
Rayleigh Town 3 - 2 White Ensign
Concord Rangers 2 - 2 Aveley (Aveley won 4-2 on penalties)
Takeley 0 - 2 Stanway Rovers
Wivenhoe Town 2 - 0 Chelmsford City
Hashtag United 3 - 0 Walthamstow
Witham Town 7 - 1 Bowers & Pitsea
Tilbury 3 - 1 Halstead Town
Brentwood Town 0 - 3 Billericay Town
Waltham Abbey 6 - 0 Basildon Town
Dagenham & Redbridge 6 - 0 Great Wakering Rovers
Wednesday 14th October
Grays Athletic 8 - 0 Hornchurch
Stand out results saw Rayleigh Town knock out White Ensign, that's step six knocking out Step Five, Witham Town smashing seven past fellow Isthmian North side Bowers & Pitsea, and Billericay winning the fierce derby at Brentwood although The Blues look a very decent outfit this season.
Southend United, Chelmsford City & Hornchurch all were beaten at lower league sides although all fielded academy/youth sides hence the results in those games, but valuable experience for those youngsters for sure, other bigger sides like Dagenham & Redbridge & Colchester United took things a bit more seriously and saw off lower league opposition to progress.
The draw for the next round I believe is on Friday 16th October, which will be broadcast live in BBC Essex of course, the main sponsor of the competition.
And enjoyable return to football here then, and good to see two Essex Senior League sides fly the flag for the division too in a very impressive way indeed!!!
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