06/05/2023 – REPORT – Roman Rovers FC versus High Roding FC

CHELMSFORD CITY RACECOURSE

ESSEX & SUFFOLK BORDER FOOTBALL LEAGUE

DIVISION FOUR.

ROMAN ROVERS FC.      2.                 HIGH RODING FC.         5.

Date:               Saturday 06^th MAY 2023

Venue:             Shrub End Recreation Ground, Colchester

            Yes, I’m back from holiday, seems I’ve missed a lot of football action both on and off the pitch, some teams had good news by winning cups, or a Divisional title, some teams did not, indiscipline across the board seems to be at an all-time low, not just in the ESBFL but generally in grassroots football nationwide!

            So where do I go on my return, well Division Four has been set up rather nicely all season, both Roman Rovers FC and High Roding FC joined the ESBFL last season, the former team winning Division Five with the latter team as runners-up. This game would be the hosts final league game, so an outright victory would put them top and mean that High Roding would have to beat Hedinghams United FC Reserves next weekend, a draw would have meant no change to their current league positions. The match was played at Shrub End on the 3G pitch, with no spectator barrier this creates an issue for spectators, as only players, Match Official/s, Team Management and Substitutes should be allowed inside, this rule, once explained by the Referee, was respectfully adhered too by a vociferous crowd supporting both teams in this championship decider.

            Roman Rovers kicked off towards the car-park end and we saw a bright opening start from both teams and from the very start you could see why these teams have dominated their division. High Roding created the best early chance, a cross from the right side from Baker-Williams was just missed by Karr (S) near the penalty spot, good effort though. Carter found Passley who sent the ball long to Baker-Williams who gave chase at pace but could not keep the ball in play, another early wake-up call, from the goal-kick taken by keeper, Eles, the ball fell to Elvestad, who passed to De Souza, who lobbed the ball goalwards but over the stranded keeper and the goal. Immediately, at the other end Karr (S) flicked the ball over Tuddenham but shot wide from a decent position in front of goal, Oughton fouled Pardoe and from the free-kick Passley shafted the ball well wide with his left foot. Slightly against the general run of play, Roman Rovers took the lead on eleven minutes, Carter dithered on the ball when trying to clear out of defence, his stray pass was picked up by sixteen-year-old, JACK ELVESTAD who took on Liddiatt before scoring past keeper, Karr (D). Top scorer, Oughton, who had not looked fit, was immediately substituted suffering from the recurrence of a recent injury to be replaced by Reeve.

            Preece was forced to concede a corner when Burgess threatened, the home team defended there well, Passley fouled Feaviour on the half-way line, Baker-Williams and Tuddenham crashed into a heavy fifty-fifty challenge, got up shook hands and played on, Baker-Williams did concede a free-kick on the penalty spot when he fouled Feaviour. On twenty minutes High Roding scored their equaliser, from a left side attack the ball was played out for a corner, from this, the ball was worked along the goal line where defenders shielded forwards in its trajectory, but in the resulting goal-mouth confusion JOSH BURGESS, stuck the loose ball into the net, however, defender, Davis obviously spoke out of turn and was rewarded with a ten-minute spell in the “sin-bin”. Baker-Williams was a driving force through the visitors, midfield, another hefty challenge came in from Macklin, again both players got up and played on but both teams were suffering that “final ball” syndrome, good approach play but no end product. That said, on twenty-seven minutes a ball played in from a free-kick was met at the far post by ED KILLIN who powered home a header across the goal, would the sin-binned Davis have been his marker, who knows! Macklin picked up the first caution for a foul on Karr (S), the home team need to calm down, defend until their player can return and then build again, this elapse of time was helped by a foul on keeper, Eles, by the over enthusiastic Baker-Williams, leading to a word from the referee.

            The referee also had cause to speak to the home team’s manager as his frustration got the better of him, when a challenge didn’t go his team’s way, this was accepted, then Baker-Williams ran clear to lob keeper, Eles who was way out of his penalty area, the ball drifted well wide, though but gaps were still seen in the team, one player down. A driven corner taken by Preece was headed clear by Evans (L) who, not for the first time, towered over everyone in an aerial challenge, and at this point Davis re-joined the fray. High Roding had seen far more possession in that ten-minute period, and they kept up their attacking style with Carter finding Karr (S) who passed the ball onto the over-lapping Baker-Williams. The same player was guilty of handling the ball in his stride, just outside his own penalty area, Reeves took the free-kick short, to send Hughes a way but sadly his left foot cross lacked power or purpose and the visitors cleared the ball away.

HALF – TIME:  1 – 2.

            Roman Rovers made another player change before the second half-got under way with Adcock replacing Hughes, a cross from Tuddenham almost found the head of Macklin, almost a free header, then Tuddenham and Baker-Williams crashed into another hefty challenge, again both players got up, no arguments, just appreciation of both doing their job well. Both, Passley and Donaldson gave away silly fouls to break up play, Evans (L) was more composed when he passed to Karr (S) who sent a right footed shot just over the cross-bar. High Roding had raised their tempo again, Liddiatt sent Baker-Williams away from Adcock but keeper, Eles was equal to the shot from outside the penalty area, although he ball did squirm between his legs, with the keeper stopping he ball as it came out behind him. A corner taken by Carter found the head of Karr (S) who headed wide, at the other end Mathieson sent the ball wide to De Souza whose shot forced keeper, Karr (D) to push the ball over the cross-bar. Reeves passed up-field, but Evans (L) headed clear but only to Davis whose attempt at an overhead kick saw his fine effort cleared off the goal-line by Carter. From a goal-kick, re-start, the ball was passing through the centre-circle when Davis dived into a challenge on Passley, this was considered to be dangerous and Davis received a red card, which was accepted without argument and once again the home team were down to ten men and there was still thirty minutes to play.

            Elvestad embarked on a fine individual run down the right side but his cross fell behind his forward colleagues and the same player sent a rasping shot into the side netting on a rare sight of goal. Passley showed some good footwork and close control when he extricated himself from a tricky situation inside the centre-circle. An obvious push in the back by Macklin on defender Killin was spotted by the referee then a free-kick taken by Reeve from the half-way line failed to trouble keeper, Karr (D) and went out for a throw-in! Roman Rovers, despite being a player down, kept plugging away but found the High Roding midfield and defence in fine form, Carter sent Baker-Williams away again, but his shot hit the side netting and Mathieson had a nibble at Burgess from behind to concede a free-kick. On sixty-six minutes High Roding scored the important next goal, Baker-Williams slipped a pass forward, through the hosts defence, and SAM KARR ran on to score at which point High Roding replaced Baker-Williams with Stuart. Minutes later Preece was adjudged to have clipped the heels of Carter as he ran into the penalty area, Burgess stepped up to hammer the ball low to the keeper’s right side but keeper, Eles made a fine one-handed save, game over otherwise!

            On seventy-one minutes Roman Rovers replaced Tuddenham and Macklin with Powell and Adebambo, this made no difference though, as MYLES PASSLEY ran onto a fine final pass from Carter to reach the ball before the advancing keeper, Eles. The score-line got worse for Roman Rovers, as when COREY CARTER sent in a low driven cross, defender REEVE deflected the ball past his stranded keeper, Eles. This score-line, whilst reflecting that High Roding were the better team, it did not reflect the standard of play from both teams in what was a very competitive match. When Carter made a second defensive error, there was JACK ELVESTAD to waltz past another defender before scoring his second goal of the match, at least it puts a bit more respectability on the score-line. Powell turned to send a volley just over the cross-bar, Passley picked up a late yellow card for a foul on Reeve, on eighty-six minutes High Roding replaced Passley with Jackson, more substitutions followed with Elvestad, by now injured, being replaced by Broome and High Roding took-off Karr (S) allowing Clayden to at least get a run out, the final whistle blowing soon after!

FULL TIME:     2 – 5.

            As expected this was a very competitive game, both teams were a credit to the competition and this game despite a red card was played in good spirit and both teams deserving their undoubted promotion, it was refreshing that players can tackle hard but get up and play on, just one moment of dissent, rightly dealt with, one moment of a poor challenge also dealt with but few, if any complaints, as all players wanted to do just that, play, well done.

            It was my pleasure, as EBSFL Treasurer, to be able to award both teams with their respective divisional Winners and Runners-Up cups and it was nice to see both teams congratulating each other, taking photographs not just of their own team, but there was even a joint picture taken in the goalmouth, nice touch.

            Finally, turning to my “Star Player” choice, too many players had decent games, for me, for Roman Rovers FC it was young Jack Elvestad, with two goals, for High Roding Baker-Williams put in a big shift, Carter led his team well, but Luke Evans was a tower in midfield, not much got past him today, well done to him.

Teams:

ROMAN ROVERS FC.

Colours:                        Pink Shirts, Black Shirts, Pink Socks.

Team:

Kane Eles., James Hughes., Mason Feaviour., Jake Davies., Tom Preece., Jay Macklin., Justin De Souza., Charlie Mathieson., Jack Elvestad., Ricky Tuddenham (C)., Konnor Oughton.

Manager:                      Jake Heap.

Used Substitutes:           Andrew Broome., Nathaniel Powell., Kane Adcock., James Reeve., Emmanuel Adebambo.

HIGH RODING FC:    

Colours:                        Light Blue Shirts, Blue Shorts and Blue Socks.

Team:

Daniel Karr., Liam Liddiatt., Calum Pardoe., Ed Killin., Corey Carter (C)., Shayden Baker-Williams., Luke Evans., Aaron Donaldson., Josh Burgess., Sam Karr., Myles Passley.

Manager:                      Brian Daden.

Assistant Manager:        Scott Hiskey.

Used Substitutes:           Jake Stuart., Alfie Clayden., Steve Jackson., Charlie Evans.

Unused Substitutes:       Scott Hiskey.

Referee:                        Nathan Tansley.

Star Player:                Luke EVANS                            (HIGH RODING 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.