06/09/2016 – Report – Harwich & Parkeston FC versus Weeley Athletic FC
ANDREAS CARTER ESSEX & SUFFOLK BORDER FOOTBALL LEAGUE
PREMIER DIVISION
HARWICH & PARKESTON FC: 1.
WEELEY ATHLETIC FC: 2.
Date: Tuesday 06th September 2016. Venue: The Royal Oak, Dovercourt.
Another mid-week excursion, this time to The Royal Oak, Dovercourt to watch my team Weeley Athletic FC take on Harwich & Parkeston FC in this Premier Division match which with a seven-forty-five kick-off would be played under floodlights.
The match officials for this Premier Division game were John Watson, who would be assisted by Graham Austin and Jason Boots and we would start the game as expected with the floodlights on and with a decent local crowd in attendance.
Harwich, now managed by Glen Eldridge, had won two and lost two matches before this evenings game, whilst Weeley had won three and lost one, but nevertheless I still expected a close game and so it was. Harwich kicked off but Weeley won possession and an astute through ball from Payne saw McLean bearing down on goal with defender Lamb, who had made an error, and keeper Felgate both advancing towards the ball, McLean lobbed the ball goalwards but Felgate made an excellent one-handed save to divert the ball over the cross-bar. Payne took the corner which Findlay headed goalwards only for Lamb to atone by heading the ball off the goal-line and when play reverted to the other end Payne was adjudged to have fouled Palmer, who had returned to Harwich after a brief sojourn at West Bergholt FC. From the free-kick, Freeman punched the ball away with Findlay helping the process but Palmer tried his luck with a shot from outside the penalty area and it looked like we were going to watch an open game.
When Nash was upended inside the penalty area by Richardson, a decent shout for a penalty went unheeded as the referee waved play-on but Payne kept up the pressure testing Felgate who tried to dribble the ball forward from a pass by Duffus and as the ball eventually moved forward via Munson, his pass found Geen in an offside position. A foul by Duffus on Townend, who had got forward for the home team led to the free-kick, taken by Cooke and we all watched agonisingly as the dipping effort just cleared the cross-bar to land on the roof of the net. Wood fouled Heffer in a central midfield area and from this dead-ball situation East raced forward to find Nash and receive the return ball but Lamb was covering this attempted break. Findlay made a forward foray beating Wood to the ball and crossing to Heffer whose firm header flew straight to Felgate who saved low at the near post. So far Weeley had more ball possession but now needed to turn that into goals being mindful that Harwich also looked keen to get forward and score. East was injured in a heavy but fair challenge requiring treatment off the field.
With twenty-five minutes gone Downes, who had been pressurised by Geen inside the penalty area, dived into a third challenge wrapping his feet around the home player to concede a penalty kick and receive the first caution of the game. MATTHEW GEEN stepped up to hammer the ball past the dive of Freeman who guessed the right direction in which to dive, a goal slightly against the run of play given the chances created by the visitors. The response was immediate however as two minutes later a run and cross by Downes from the left side saw Lamb handle the ball in the air and it was Weeley through ROSS NASH who equalised with the second penalty kick of the match. Davis had to chase back to challenge Gibbs and when the ball rebounded to Richardson he tried a speculative shot from full thirty yards which Freeman comfortably held but again both teams were trying to play football moving the ball around well in all areas without any further end result. That was until Weeley put another positive move together, Findlay laid the ball off to Payne, then on to Davis who fed Duffus whose pass across the field found Heffer who blasted a shot goalwards, Richardson stuck out a foot to try to parry the ball which fell at the feet of ROSS NASH who comfortably side-footed home from the edge of the penalty area. The expected response came via Palmer whose eventual shot was weak and Freeman collected, just as he did moments later when Geen tried his luck from distance.
HALF-TIME: 1 – 2
The second half was barely seconds old when Weeley were awarded another penalty with a long ball forward from Davis finding Nash whose shot was parried by Felgate but when McLean picked up the loose ball he was pended by Lamb, who was cautioned for the offence. Nash took the resultant penalty but Felgate made a fine save diving high to his left to push the rising ball away for a corner. Weeley continued to push forward but needed to be more clinical in front of goal, scoring a third goal would have helped the nerves but meant that any error might bring the scores level again. Findlay shepparded Palmer away from goal with some tight defending, Payne was covering a lot of the pitch and Duffus carefully guided the ball back to Freeman under pressure from Geen. Weeley replaced Clover with Wallis, another move started by Freeman to Heffer found Mclean who skipped around Lamb before curling a fine effort round the outside of a defender only to see the ball hit the inside of the goal-post and bounce into the arms of Felgate.
Geen was injured in a tackle on Downes who also limped away, Davis pushed forward to cross goalwards with Felgate punching clear, but only to Mclean who forced a corner. Payne took the corner, Heffer headed goalwards with Felgate catching who cleared down-field where Townend forced a home corner, where defender Findlay missed his attempted clearance however Heffer did the job efficiently. On the hour mark, Harwich replaced Wood and Gibbs with Neale and Smith and before Neale had time to acclimatise to the game the ball hit him forcing Freeman into an almost point black save from six yards. Weeley front man was holding the ball up well with McLean to support, whilst Duffus offered extra mobility from the back with Heffer and Payne holding midfield together. Wallis and Palmer had a mini spat inside the centre-circle which the referee waved away but wing-back Davis sent Duffus clear to find Nash and McLean just outside the penalty area however Harwich defended well and Downes had to block off Palmer with an illegal challenge mid-half. Mclean kept the visitors attacks going using his pace to trouble the home defence whilst Duffus linked up with Heffer and Payne whose half-volley drifted just wide as Weeley dominated this period of play.
Heffer make a huge challenge on Munson and from the long throw-in by Neale, Heffer headed clear inside the six-yard box, a shot from Cooke failed to trouble Freeman whilst Downes blocked off the strong running of Neale, playing in a more forward role for a defender. Harwich had raised their game, after the introduction of the two substitutes Weeley would have to compose themselves whilst under pressure and defend as they tired with twenty minutes remaining. More good hold up play by Nash allowed McLean to run clear, Duffus also found Nash who passed across field to East, pounding down the right side and from his cross Nash forced a timely challenge from Lamb. Freeman saved low down to a chance from Smith who had almost capitalised on the visiting defence going to sleep with Manager Shelley urging his team to focus during the dying minutes. Payne chased a long ball forward but Felgate reached the ball first and Nash went down suffering what looked like cramp, only to limp off and be replaced by Fisher. Freeman saved again from Smith from a pass by Cooke and East limped off to be replaced by Watt on eighty-five minutes. Heffer cleared out of defence when Freeman was beaten to the ball by Townend and the game ended soon after Geen dived recklessly into a challenge on Downes, Geen was cautioned and Downes might think himself lucky not receive a second yellow card for his excessive reaction to a poor challenge, commonsense refereeing at this late stage of what had been a decent game of football.
FULL TIME: 1 – 2
A decent game of football, witnessed by a decent crowd, both teams had their moments of domination with Weeley the more attacking team, penalties apart there were chances aplenty and the visitors went home very happy.
For my Man of the Match selection I’m in a quandary, Geen, Palmer and Murray worked hard for Harwich whilst for Weeley numerous names spring forward, but for different reasons, keeper Freeman was solid as usual, Downes marshalled his defence well, Duffus had his best game for his new club, Payne and Heffer ran midfield, Nash held the ball up well and McLean was always a danger when running with the ball so with this in mind I’ll settle on a very good team effort.
In closing, Weeley Athletic FC would like to extend their thanks to Manager, Keiron Shelley, who last Thursday, accepted an approach to manage FC Clacton in the Thurlow Nunn Premier Division, Keiron had been with Weeley for the previous two seasons over-seeing successive promotions through the Essex & Suffolk Border League and I’m sure he will still have the club at heart, but Weeley wish him well for the future.
Teams:
HARWICH & PARKESTON FC: Colours: Black & White Shirts, Black Shorts and Red Socks.
Sam Felgate., Reece Townend., Ryan Munson., Jake Richardson., Oliver Lamb., Michael Murray (C)., Charlie Gibbs., Ashley Wood., Matthew Geen., Michael Palmer., Charlie Cook.
Manager: Glen Eldridge
Used Substitutes: Sam Thompson., Jake Neale., Bradley Smith.
Unused Substitutes: Billy Eldridge., Matthew Friend.
WEELEY ATHLETIC FC: Colours: Orange Shirts, Black Shorts and Black Socks.
Mitchell Freeman., Robert East., Steven Davis., Daniel Findlay., Jamie Duffus., Mitchell Payne., Thomas Heffer., Steven Downes., Ross Nash., Russell McLean., Jarrod Clover.
Manager: Keiron Shelley.
Assistant Manager: Richard Downes.
Used Substitutes: Darryl Wallis., James Watt., Chay Fisher.
Unused Substitutes: Tom Appleby., Kalon Harms
Referee: John Watson (Colchester)
Graham Austin (Kirby Cross)
Jason Boots (Colchester)
Man of the Match: Team effort (WEELEY ATHLETIC FC)
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Request to Club / Fixture Secretaries
This season the fixtures, results, referees and “kick-off” times will be shown automatically on “The FA Full-Time / The Whole Game System” ( http://full-time.thefa.com ) but would all Club / Fixture Secretaries please advice any agreed changes, as required, to Alison Willmore ( mjw1947@sky.com ) especially for evening games and for those matches being played under floodlights etc.
KO is 3:00pm from: August to October
KO is 2:00pm in: November, December & January
KO is 2:30pm in: February
KO is 3:00pm from: March to end of season
Cup Matches:
Kick-Off times for ESBFL cup matches, are generally 30 minutes earlier than those shown above but check competition rules beforehand.
Kick-Off times for Essex County Football Association cup matches are published on the ECFA web-site.
( www.essexfa.com/competitions/county-cups )
ESBFL “web-site”
The web-site for the Essex & Suffolk Border Football League is: www.esblfootball.com
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