08/04/2023 – REPORT – Stillwaters FC versus Tendring District FC – COVID Cup (R2)

CHELMSFORD CITY RACECOURSE

ESSEX & SUFFOLK BORDER FOOTBALL LEAGUE

COVID CUP – SECOND ROUND.

STILLWATERS FC.          2. (SPOT KICKS: 4 – 2)   TENDRING DISTRICT FC.        2.

Date:               Saturday 08^th APRIL 2023     Venue:             Shrub End Sports Ground, Colchester.

            Weather wise, this was a much better Saturday afternoon for football, no rain, no wind but a hard and bumpy pitch, liberally covered with grass welcomed both teams to Shrub End Sports Ground. Good Club Administration is a watch-word, or two, for the ESBFL Management Committee, so it was with surprise it seemed the Changing Facilities were not originally open, however, someone was available to open up, it seems the Home Club had booked the venue, but the facility had failed to diarise it! Where next, well I met, Alex Hodder, a new referee to the ESBFL, he is going for promotion, so hopefully this game will move forward and pass without incident, read on!

            Home Team, Stillwaters FC joined the ESBFL, in Division Four, just after the COVID break, it’s fair to say they have yet to acclimatise to Saturday football in a competitive competition, recently they had gained a couple of welcome victories to move away from the bottom of the table. It was clear before kick-off that they had a small squad available for this match with the team sheet being hurriedly, completed by each player, understandable, as even I struggled with the player’s names! Visitors, Tendring District, joined the ESBFL this season, they were a late Club application and were happy to slot into Division Four, rather than start in the lowest Division, taking the place of Langham Lodgers FC, who had withdrawn, their progress has seen them maintain a top half position all season, they too had twelve named players.

            At kick off, the home team had nine players on the pitch, when summoned, two more duly arrived, already changed from the car park, but the home team started the match with no linesman! Less than two minutes were on the clock when Tendring scored, a long throw-in from Green found the head of GEORGE BEAN whose back header sailed over everyone into the back of the net, oh dear, this does not look good! Tendring sensed that if they could keep the ball they could, perhaps, score at will, Stillwaters had different ideas and after the early set-back and being at sixes & sevens, a combination of shear effort and player encouragement saw them gain confidence, the standard of football was not good though and I don’t mean that disrespectfully as both teams tried their best on a bumpy pitch. When, Daramola fouled Limber play continued with Tendring in possession, but Link fired over when well placed, Willoughby-Burrell, was pulled, up for a high foot to Daramola who had ducked into the bouncing ball. Tendring forced two early corners, the second, was, kicked straight out for a goal-kick by Limber, then from the restart keeper, Coker toe-punted the ball forward finding Weatherley whose run down the left side saw his cross intercepted by keeper, Coare, due respect to both teams though, they were both very enthusiastic. Home keeper, Coker, advanced well out of his penalty area, to act, as sweeper, Ariyo broke down the right-side beating Link to find Nweke, whose shot was blocked by Brazitis and the follow up shot from Weatherly was collected low down by keeper, Coare.

            A player arrived for Stillwaters, and he was asked to take over running the line, but needed to change first, Ademuyiwa and Weatherley hunted down a loose ball but only managed to foul Corbett, Brazitis took the free-kick, long to Bean whose progress was bulked by keeper, Coker, who advanced to catch the ball, no chance of a free-kick there, even though shouts went up from Tendring. Keeper, Coker, sent the clearance, long, to Kama who steadied himself before seeing his shot saved by keeper, Coare, Bean then tried to put Willoughby-Burrell away, but the referee, well placed, whistled for off-side, this due to the fact that the Club Assistant was still getting ready! Tendring started to play better, more cohesive football, the enthusiasm of Stillwaters saw then repel these attacks, keeper, Coker launched another long clearance which Brazitis headed back to his own keeper, Coare. A clash between Lawal and Willoughby-Burrell led to calls for a penalty to Tendring, again the referee, rightly, in my opinion, denied any decision, which would have been a penalty as the Tendring player ran across the back of the retreating defender and their legs got tangled up, Willoughby-Burrell was injured in this incident. Keeper, Coare missed a back-pass to give Stillwaters a corner which was cleared by Brazitis.

            Once again another player had arrived for Stillwaters, his name was on the team sheet, it appears the other one who arrived earlier, had driven down from Bury St Edmunds, was not, got some bad news for him at half-time though, Tendring, again pushed up-field, Hartnoll got the ball forward to Green, who had shown some good control and heading ability so far, a poor touch by Ademuyiwa, when through on goal allowed Corbett to get back and tackle and Osamudiamen went down injured. The game resembled a bit of “kick-and-rush” at times, the ball was often, hit high and long without any result, much to some players frustrations! Ademuyiwa was caught off-side, he was not alone as both teams over-anticipated a ball that did not get played and at the other end Green dragged a shot wide. On forty-three minutes a throw-in from Green was headed out for a corner by Daramola but Brazitis impeded Osamudiamen as the corner was cleared. A combined tackle by Tovey and Hartnoll on Anumnu led to a free-kick, plenty of friendly banter over this challenge, but Kama stroked the free-kick straight to keeper, Coare, then Prehay handled the ball when defending, Green, struck the free -kick directly to keeper, Coker and on the balance of play and ball possession the visitors deserved their slender lead.

HALF-TIME:    0 – 1.

            Straight from the re-start, Tendring pushed forward, Green was fouled and from the free-kick a corner was gained, taken by Hartnoll, but cleared up field to Ademuyiwa who clattered into Tovey and was cautioned on forty-eight minutes. I’d just been joined on the side-lines by two former ESBFL referees, father and son, Derek and Peter Gurney, we started to reminisce on matches gone by. On fifty minutes, Ademuyiwa was replaced by Nnajiaku, his first touch was to handle the ball, a goal-scoring opportunity as well, so not only conceding a penalty but receiving a red-card, that’s some entrance and exit. Ironically, along with my colleagues, we jokingly said, this could go over the cross-bar and when Bean stepped up to take the spot-kick, it did exactly that, and sailed over the cross-bar! With Stillwaters down to ten players, the first Club Assistant decided he would go home and Nnajiaku, sportingly in his mind, took over the Club Assistant role, however, as a dismissed player he should have taken no further part in the match, which would have given the match official a real head-ache with no other volunteers to tun the line! Daramola fouled Bean, Limber played the ball to Green but when possession was lost Hartnoll was cautioned for a foul challenge, a great cross from Green was netted by Limber but the flag was raised, and the referee upheld the decision then Willoughby-Burrell collided with keeper, Coker and needed treatment, leading to a drop ball to the home team.

            On sixty-five minutes, keeper, Coker saved well from an effort by Willoughby-Burrell, this from a pass from Brazitis to Limber, Green fouled Kama, then Green sent Willoughby-Burrell away, keeper, Coker tried to shield the ball out of play, but Willoughby-Burrell persisted and managed to send the ball into the side-netting. Stillwaters had kept up their defensive efforts well, not always pretty, but pretty effective none-the-less, so much so they gained a corner when Ariyo battled through a number of tackles and was only denied keeper, Coare, for a corner. Prehay, took the corner, Green headed clear but OLU LAWAL steered the ball home from the edge of the penalty area, the ten men had equalised! Play remained scrappy, the next goal, we thought might decide this close game, the enthusiasm of the Stillwaters players had not diminished, but both teams were helping each other up from tackles and friendly comments abounded from both sides. Tendring had pushed Brazitis further forward, his passing and movement had featured well when playing out of defence, this left a gap at the back and Tendring were indebted to a fine “lastminute.com” challenge by Corbett, on Weatherly who had raced through with only the keeper to beat.

            As we entered the final fifteen minutes, keeper, Coare launched another long kick forward, the Stillwaters defence had pressed too far forward and OWEN WILLOUGHBY-BURRELL raced clear to lob keeper, Coker and put the visitors in front. Did that stop Stillwaters, no, it did not, Ariyo embarked on another mazy run through several challenges, and he was only denied by the outstretched boot of keeper, Coare, and a corner was awarded. When the corner came over, Osamudiamen rose highest and headed goalwards, but with his keeper well beaten, Green dived to his right, a fine save, but the penalty was awarded and Green was dismissed, leaving SANTIGIE KAMA to drill the ball home, hard and low for an unlikely equaliser. So now we had just a few minutes until the dreaded penalty shoot-out, which duly followed, but only after Corbett was hurt when he collided with keeper, Coker, who seemed to turn into the player after catching the bouncing ball at a corner.

FULL TIME:     2 – 2.

PENALTY / SPOT KICKS:

Tendring District FC:                                                 Stillwaters FC:

1.         Limber                          scores   1 – 0                 1.         Lawal                scores   1 – 1

2.         Willoughby-Burrell          scores   2 – 1                 2.         Ariyo                 scores   2 – 2

3.         Tovey                           saved    2 – 2                 3.         Osamudiamen    scores   2 – 3

4.         Hartnoll                         saved    2 – 3                 4.         Weatherly         scores   2 – 4

Stillwaters FC win “4 – 2” on Spot Kicks.    

            This was never going to be a classic match, in my role as a roving reporter, I travel where I want and try to cover all Divisions at some stage, but this was a chance to watch two teams who play in Division Four, by a quirk of the fixture list, the teams meet in the league next week, I won’t be there though. In summary, all sorts of Administrative, issues, an un-named substitute, who arrived late, acted as Club Assistant, then found out he could not participate as he was not named on the team-sheet! Another substitute who should have started but by arriving late became a substitute then entered play for just two minutes before being dismissed by handling the ball, his one and only touch of the ball! One caution for each team were not contested either and the dismissal for a handling offence, again left the young referee little option but to apply the Laws of the Game.

            Finally, turning to my “Star Player” choice, I’m not beating around the bush this week, Green was a stand-out player until his untimely dismissal, but stand-up Owen Willoughby-Burrell, not stop running, denied several times but scored a decent goal when he the lobbed the keeper.

Teams:

STILLWATERS FC.

Colours:                        Yellow Shirts, Black Shorts and Yellow & Black Socks.

Team:

Mayokun Coker., Olu Lawal., Donovan Prehay., Silver Osamudiamen., Bolu Ariyo., Kelechi Anumnu., Santigie Kama., Franklin Nweke., Jon Weatherley., Adetomiwa Ademuyiwa., Joe Daramola.

Acting Manager:            Kelechi Anumnu.

Used Substitutes:           Izuchukwu Nnajiaku

TENDRING DISTRICT FC:     

Colours:                        Pink Shirts, Black Shorts and Black Socks.

Team:

Mitchell Coare., Adam Corbett., Jordan Brazitis., Dylan Link., Tyler Doe., Charlie Green., Charlie Hartnoll., Charlie Tovey., Anthony Limber., Owen Willoughby-Burrell., George Bean.

Manager:                      Darren Willson.

Unused Substitute:         Darren Willson.

Referee:                        Alex Hodder.

Star Player:                Owen WILLOUGHBY-BURRELL                      (TENDRING DISTRICT 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.