Essex Senior League, Tuesday 3rd/Wednesday 4th November
November already hey, and the season is starting to take shape, and my latest blog is a midweek double header in the Essex Senior League which saw me take in the Burroughs Park derby & a game at Cricklefield Stadium, they were part of three league games happening this midweek as well as a County Cup tie involving one of the ESL sides, let's see how the games I attended went.
Tuesday 3rd November
Great Wakering Rovers Vs White Ensign (Burroughs Park)
Now normally GWR would be the team most people would look too to be the dominant side in this fixture, the landlords have often been fighting towards the top of this division and even been up at Step Four on more than one occasion, whereas tenants Ensign have often punched above their weight since reaching Senior Football a few years ago, and were always classed as the underdogs in fixtures between these two.
Well, that isn't the case this season as Ensign are actually above their landlords in the standings, the 'visitors' on this occasion sit one point and three places above their opponents in 13th spot, and only one win from the top ten, and with their superb 5-0 home win over Wormley Rovers in the FA Vase at the weekend, they were coming into this one with plenty of confidence.
This did come after back to back losses in the league without scoring, although they had won back to back home games prior to that, so up and down form wise, however they were taking on a GWR outfit who are by no means having the season everyone expected, down in sixteenth spot with only twelve points from their ten league games thus far, with only three wins.
Many will point to the fact they lost some quality players before the season began, but they still have quality in their squad, so it is still a surprise to me that they are down where they are, & until recently they had won no league games before victories over three of the four sides immediately below them, which was very important indeed, with the last outing a 3-0 home win over a Woodford Town side who have slipped alarmingly down the standings in recent weeks and like GWR were many peoples tips to do well this season.
This derby then was even more intriguing this time around, with both sides hoping to grab a win over the other, these games are normally very well contested shall we say, it was a decent start to the contest too, both sides went close early on but Ensign thereafter began to carve out the better openings as they were the better side after an initial burst at the beginning from the hosts.
It appeared that the first half would end goalless too despite plenty of goal mouth action, especially at the end Ensign were attacking, but they did finally manage to make one of their chances count, and it came four minutes before the break when a ball over to the far side saw a lovely guided volley from George Godfrey go back across goal and into the opposite corner, and Ensign had a deserved lead.
You felt GWR, who did have some moments in the opening forty five minutes, could not be as bad as they had been in the opening forty five minutes in the second period, and they would show some fight and desire to get themselves back into this contest, well it was the complete opposite, and only some wasteful finishing prevented them from going further behind, Ensign finding the woodwork twice in quick succession as well as some goal bound blocks from GWR thwarting Ensign from going further ahead.
GWR made some changes to try and inject something into their performance, Ensign were still only one goal ahead despite their dominance and almost paid for their misses when GWR came close when firing over, and they then saw Ensign keeper Jordan Williams make a top top save to deny a wonderful long range effort, but thereafter Ensign recovered their composure and were the ones looking to end the game with a second.
Things were made harder for GWR when they were then reduced to ten men, centre half Kye Jude being dismissed for a second yellow in the 76th minute, and this only added to their woes, and in the 85th minute Ensign finally sealed a deserved win when George Briton-Watkins burst through to slot beyond George Marsh & give them some breathing space heading into the final part of the contest.
GWR did see a late goal bound effort blocked, and they dragged a free kick wide of the post with the final kick off the contest, a contest they had been second best in and were just outworked, outrun, and outfought by their opponents in every department, concerns for GWR then heading forward, but for Ensign this was a very comprehensive win, a win that takes them to the cusp of the top ten, not bad at all, they were very good in this one.
Full time Great Wakering Rovers 0 White Ensign 2
Wednesday 4th November
SOUL Tower Hamlets Vs Hutton (Cricklefield Stadium)
Last season's runners up SOUL have had a mixed campaign so far you could say, not helped by the fact their home ground, the Mile End Stadium, has had some issues with the playing surface hence some disruption to their season so far, and it was also the reason this game was being played at Cricklefield, as Mile End is now out of action for the time being.
Not ideal then, SOUL are down in 14th right now although they have only played nine games and have games in hand, mind you, having had four wins and four losses in those nine matches, it's been a mixed campaign as said, and they were welcoming a Hutton side to their home for the evening who have suddenly clicked into action after a slow start to the season.
Whereas SOUL netted a narrow win at strugglers Hackney Wick, their first win in six matches in all competitions, Hutton have been in scintillating form of late, having won five of their last seven in all competitions, that included a win at home to Vanarama National League South Braintree Town in the County Cup, and last time out smashed six past Romford to make it nineteen goals in those seven games, the only loss being a narrow defeat to unbeaten Heybridge Swifts.
It means that Hutton are now into the top ten and three points ahead of tonight's opponents & not fearing anyone right now, although SOUL did have three games in hand on their opponents, but this promised to be quite a contest I felt, the two games I'd seen Hutton play this season had seen fifteen goals in them, so I was quite confident their would be some in this contest too.
Well, as it turned out, goals would be scarce in this contest, the opening forty five minutes certainly was a lively contest, with the hosts posing more of an attacking threat, mainly through Solomon Ofori down the left hand side, and even when they were reduced to ten men just before the half hour mark when Jack Ashford was sin binned, they still continued to pose a threat, and did actually find the net through Kieran James, but he was flagged offside after the ball had gone in, chalking that one off.
Hutton did have some attacks for sure, but they were nowhere neat as frequent as the hosts, and even in a second half where the hosts were not as productive as they had been in the first period, and one where Hutton did have a couple of very decent openings, SOUL were still the ones looking the most likely to nick one if anyone was too, which was becoming more and more unlikely.
Ofori, who had been a huge threat in the first half but had dropped off quite a bit in the second half, ended up having the last laugh, as he was played in in the 90th minute, and after rounding keeper Tommy Burley, he kept his composure to fire home despite a defender trying to keep it out with his hands, but found the shot to hot to handle, and it handed SOUL a deserved win overall and one that took them level on points with Hutton in the table and on the cusp of the top ten with games in hand.
Full time SOUL Tower Hamlets 1 Hutton 0
Let's see how the table looks now after the latest midweek games:-
Heybridge Swifts went top on goal difference after they saw off Romford 3-1 in the one other game this midweek, they are still the only unbeaten side left in the division this season, Romford stay in ninth and have lost back to back games since the departure of manager Darren Manning, and will no doubt want to appoint someone permanently soon and get themselves back on track.
White Ensign move to the cusp of the top ten after their superb derby win over GWR who remain down in 16th spot, and SOUL's win over Hutton also sees them on the cusp of the top ten, they are locked together on sixteen points with four other sides now in a very tightly packed mid table which sees only four points separating sixth placed Halstead Town & fourteenth placed Basildon United!!!
Anyway that's the latest dealings in the ESL for now, thanks for reading!!!
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