03/03/2023 – REPORT – Sudbury Sports FC versus Dunmow Town FC

CHELMSFORD CITY RACECOURSE

ESSEX & SUFFOLK BORDER FOOTBALL LEAGUE

PREMIER DIVISION

SUDBURY SPORTS FC.            1.                 DUNMOW TOWN FC.               1.

Date:               Friday 3^rd March 2023                        Venue:             Brundon Lane, Sudbury.

            A cold evening greeted players, officials, and supporters of Sudbury Sports FC, sitting eleventh and top team Dunmow Town FC at Brundon Lane, Sudbury, home of AFC Sudbury on Friday evening. The earlier season encounter had seen Dunmow Town FC score late on to get the three points, this game was destined, if form was an indicator, to be a similarly contested match, the youth and pace of the home team against the more experienced visitors, we were not disappointed with the match and the result was a fair reflection of proceedings.

            The match officials were M/s Elora Hardstaff, a budding, referees promotion candidate, who was assisted by Arturo Robinson and James McMillan, overall, I felt they had a fine game, but players should be credited with making their decision making easier by not showing dissent, well almost, and not contesting decisions when realising the match official was right there on the spot, well done.

            In Zanone, with forty-one goals to date, Dunmow Town FC, have the league’s leading goal-scorer, aided by the fact he scored six last Saturday against Stanway Rovers FC U23’s, and he kicked off this match. Bethell for Dunmow played the long ball down the left side looking to use the pace of Sonnex, his control and instant look up for a colleague was thwarted by a smart interception by Goode, conceding a corner, taken by Simpson but this was cleared by Silversword, but a trend was beginning to emerge. Kemp, when left in space, rifled a fine shot from twenty-five yards, that keeper, Wicks parried over his cross-bar for another corner. The Sudbury response started with Tower-King pushing forward to find Williams but when possession was lost they like the rest of their team had to drop back and defend.

            On twenty minutes, Sudbury Sports still had their backs to the wall, as they say, Dunmow, were working the ball out of defence with both Bethell and O’ Brien happy to play laterally before sending the ball forward through midfielders, Hamill, Osborn and Sonnex, then onwards to Zanone, a willing target player, who has a good turn of pace himself. Sudbury Sports had weathered this early first half pressure and gradually gained confidence to string a few passes together themselves and the game was getting competitive and interesting in the quality of play shown. A break by Sudbury Sports on twenty-two minutes through Tower-King, Williams and Terminiello led to the latter player cutting in from the right side to fire a rising shot against the cross-bar with, keeper, Pellin, previously a spectator, well beaten, this game had come to life in this phase. On twenty-five minutes two players were injured, Zanone and home keeper, Wicks who had gone to ground at the feet of the marauding forward, no foul was given, although perhaps expected and a drop-ball re-started the match. From here, Chubb for Sudbury ran deep down the right side sending in a dangerous low cross that defender O’Brien sent looping out for a corner, taken by Terminiello, but comfortably dealt with by the visitor’s defence.

            Kemp put in a stiff challenge on Silversword as the defender tried to clear out of defence, from the free-kick, Dunmow defended well and tried to break using the pace of Sonnex on the left side but within five minutes we saw a goal when KIERAN WILLIAMS swept the ball home from ten yards out, once again a patient build up and clever passing had worked an opening that the player accepted with much celebration. The Dunmow response was as expected, direct, with Sonnex making a strong run down the left side before cutting in-field to shoot, but home keeper, Wicks made an excellent save at his near post, albeit at the expense of a corner. The corner, taken by Simpson, on the far side was played to the back post area where O’Brien rose to head back across goal only for keeper, Wicks to intervene and catch a high ball under pressure from Zanone and Kemp. Kemp fouled Silversword and Sudbury Sports looked to counter again, a brilliant dribble forward by Chubb saw him beat three retreating defenders before striking his shot wide of the target. Sonnex for Dunmow thought he had put Zanone through, but the forward from wide on the left side and looking across the whole pitch was caught off-side, much to his frustration. As the first half closed, Williams was played in by Spurgeon, once again a snatched shot at goal flew wide.

HALF-TIME:    1 – 0.

            Sudbury Sports kicked-off the second half, a new strategy was that they were prepared to put a player both in front of and behind, target player, Zanone and this worked to good effect as the home teams high work-rate continued. A fine ball forward from Smith fell to Zanone but for once his control failed him and the home team pushed forward through Henrici-Fernandez only for Prue to impede his progress. The patient pass and move process adopted by Sudbury Sports was becoming a real threat to the visitors, who tried a long ball approach, but they over-hit the ball on a couple of occasions, again to their own frustration. Williams broke in from the right side, finding Quattrucci whose shot was saved by keeper, Pellin, and at the other end his opposite number, Wicks parried a high cross from Sonnex, with Goode completing the clearing of the ball, which came back again with Zanone, running through, in space only for keeper, Wicks to make another fine save. Bethell was spoken too, for a heavy challenge on Chubb, but on fifty-eight minutes Dunmow scored their equaliser, a run and cross from Simpson down the left side was swept home from close range through a crowd of players, by STUART ZANONE.

            On the hour mark Dunmow replaced Bethell with Quinney, this added more height to the visitors team, Hamill was lucky not to be cautioned for a challenge when his teams attack broke down, a foul on Zanone, was given right on the angle of the penalty area, taken by Zanone, but blasted high and wide of the goal, where Quinney thought he had kept the ball in play but the Assistant Referee was perfectly placed to adjudge that the ball had gone out of play. A long and high clearance from Pellin saw the ball bounce once before heading towards keeper, Wicks, who somehow lost his footing with Zanone in attendance, however, the loose ball was placed over the unguarded goal by Sonnex, a big miss from a rare error. A long cross from Henrici-Fernandez was cleared by Dunmow who raced to the other end only for Zanone to be denied, once again by the excellent Wicks. When Chubb was seemingly fouled by Kemp, right on the half-way line, no foul was given, Chubb sounded off and was directed to the “sin-bin” for a ten minute break, the petulance of youth, perhaps!

            So could Dunmow take advantage of the fact the home team had a player disadvantage, they certainly tried and another fine save from keeper, Wicks, denied Zanone aided by a fine block tackle by Goode. An attack by Smith was blocked off by Quattrucci at the expense of a corner, once again keeper, Wicks rose to the occasion and caught the ball unchallenged, which was a bit of a surprise and as the ball was cleared, Sonnex fouled Henrici-Fernandez. On eighty minutes Sudbury Sports replaced Quattrucci with Zaleweski, Coburn had come on for the sin-binned Chubb and Dunmow replaced Prue with Chappell, and virtually the final action of this excellent game saw keeper Wicks advancing from his penalty area to hack clear a forward pass, game over.

FULL TIME:     1 – 1.

            For a cold Friday evening, this was an excellent match played in good spirit, plenty of endeavour and action from both teams, not too many goal-scoring opportunities though, the better ones fell to Dunmow, who found home keeper, Wicks in inspired mood, the result in my opinion was fair.

            Finally, turning to my “Star Player” choice, bearing in mind I was standing next to two impartial people, one a referee, the other a well-known football ground-hopper, I asked for their opinion. For Dunmow Town, another competitive team effort that shows why they are at the top of the Premier Division, defensively sound, maybe one or two players missing from a normal line-up, two more players were suspended, that’s life, as they say, but in midfield, Hamill was key alongside Kemp whilst upfront Zanone added one more goal to his impressive tally. For Sudbury Sports, its all about fitness, skill and a team work rarely seen for such a young team, they too had a player suspended, defensively, Goode and Silversword played well, the midfield and forwards eventually played their part after the early defensive, rear-guard action was forced on them. Who have I missed, well of course, the keeper, Wicks, made save after save, so it was hard not to agree with my learned’ colleagues on the evening, that he was the “Star-Player”, I agreed, and it takes a former goalkeeper to recognise another.

Teams:

SUDBURY SPORTS FC.

Colours:                        Yellow Shirts, Yellow Shorts and Yellow Socks.

Team:

Lloyd Wicks., Luca Terminiello (C)., Jensen Goode., Toby Silversword., Thomas Henrici-Fernandez., Cody Bennett., Leyton Chubb., Kaidon Tower-King., Kieran Williams., Hadley Quattrucci., Alfie Spurgeon.,

Manager:                      Scott Egerton.

Used Substitutes:           Alex Zaleweski., Joie Coburn.

Unused Substitute:         Yehor Vorobei., Lewis Spurgeon.

DUNMOW TOWN FC:

Colours:                        Blue Shirts, Blue Shorts and Blue Socks.

Team:

James Pellin., Stephen Smith., Mitchell Prue., Joe Osborn., Freddie O’Brien., Bobby Bethell., George Hamill., Stuart Zanone (C)., Matt Simpson., Tyler Kemp., Lewis Sonnex.

Management:                Keith Wilkins & Keiron Shelley.

Used Substitutes:           David Quinney., Adam Chappell.

Unused Substitutes:       Ross Farquhar., Jordan Fossey.

Referee:                        M/s Elora Hardstaff.

Assistant Referees:        Arturo Robinson and James McMillan.

Star Player:                Lloyd WICKS                           (SUDBURY SPORTS FC)

MATCH NOTIFICATIONS

Fixture Secretaries of Clubs are required to notify all match details, date, venue, kick-off time, colours etc, to their opposition and any appointed official/s, at least FIVE days before the match.

KICK-OFF TIMES

March, to end of season:                                               15:00pm

ESBFL CUP TIES:                                                           30 minutes earlier, if necessary.

ECFA CUP TIES:                                                            Kick-Off as advertised.

CUP TIES

There will be NO requirement for “Extra-Time” to be played in ESBFL Cup Matches, if scores are level at the end of “normal time” the match will proceed directly to penalty kicks.

SUBSTITUTES

The ESBFL allows ONLY FIVE SUBSTITUTES to be named before kick-off and ONLY those FIVE may be allowed to participate. Referees have been advised to consider any other named substitutes as ineligible.

Note:

In Essex County Cups (Premier & Junior & Trophy) the Rule allows FIVE SUBSTITUTES to be named and those FIVE SUBSTITUTUES may be used on a “Roll-On / Roll-Off” basis.

TEAM SHEETS

Team Sheets should be shown or sent to the Referee and the Opposition team either by text, email etc

The BLUE “League Copy” of the Team Sheet, FULLY completed, should be sent by First Class Post to reach Mick Willmore by the Thursday after a Saturday match.

This is the ONLY item of correspondence that is required by post.

(Allowances have been made for weeks where “Postal Strikes” have occurred)

RESULTS REPORTING

Rule 21(B)

BOTH Clubs shall notify/SMS the result of each Competition Match to the Competition within 30 minutes of the finish of the match. This will include Football Association and County Football Association matches.

The results of all League and Cup matches in the Competition should be reported by the FA Full-Time “SMS” (text) System.

Failure to comply with this Rule will result in a fine in accordance with the Fines Tariff.

FA FULL-TIME

The Referees marks, team, players, substitutes, goal scorers, red / yellow cards, and sin-bin, etc MUST be entered to “FA Full-Time” by the end of the Tuesday following a Saturday match (ie 48 hours after any match).

Failure to complete “FAFT” correctly and on time WILL incur a League Fine/s.

“MATCH DAY APP”

This “App” is run by the Football Association and if Clubs have any issues on its use, then please refer to ECFA in the first instance.

As a Competition, the ESBFL does not recommend use of the “Match Day App”, it has known faults and any Club using it should check that all details are fully recorded before exiting the application.

A known issue is “Referees Marks” which have a habit of dropping off once the team statistics are entered, a number of Clubs have had Fine Warnings and / or Fines for these details being omitted.

DISCIPLINE

Since the start of the season, till the end of October, there have been 35+ players dismissed and over 550 cautions, there have also been 9 reported incidences of misconduct towards players, Match officials, members of the public and county officials.

These are situations the ESBFL Management feel very strongly about, and the statistics make poor reading, the ECFA will deal with all these cases as deemed appropriate but bear in mind these actions can be very costly both for players and your, Clubs.

WHOLE GAME SYSTEM (“WGS”)

All Club Secretaries should check “WGS” on a regular basis, if you don’t, the ECFA levy a fine (25%) for late acknowledgements and payments of fines and the Club could be put into a “SINE-DIE” situation meaning they cannot play until those debts are cleared.

Club Secretaries are also responsible for adding the matches missed by players who have been suspended.

Whilst the ESBFL regularly reviews the whole Club contents on “WGS” it is not their responsibility to monitor failures by Member Clubs to follow basic procedure/s.

REFRESHMENTS

Rule 20A

The Rule {Rule 20(A)} on Page 120 of the ESBFL Handbook states:

Refreshments for BOTH teams and Match Officials MUST be provided by the home Club at half time unless these have been declined before the game.

Clubs in default shall be fined (£15.00).

NB: Whilst the Rule does not actually detail what constitutes “refreshments”, for clarity, it is in the form of drinks, these can be hot, in the form of tea or coffee or cold, eg bottled water, diluted squash or bottled energy drinks are sufficient.