10/12/2016 – Report – Coggeshall Town FC Reserves versus Gas Recreation FC (KOC-R3)
ANDREAS CARTER ESSEX & SUFFOLK BORDER FOOTBALL LEAGUE
ESBFL KNOCK-OUT CUP – ROUND 3.
COGGESHALL TOWN FC RESERVES: 7.
GAS RECREATION FC: 4.
Date: Saturday 10th December 2016. Venue: The Crops, Coggeshall.
Top game of the day, at least for me, was the Knock-Out Cup, Third Round tie between Coggeshall Town FC Reserves and Gas Recreation FC, teams sitting in third and second place respectively in the Premier Division.
I last watched the hosts on the opening day of the season but on Saturday only three of that team were in their squad for this match so numerous changes since then for a team that has only lost three league matches so far, it was, on paper a strong side, now managed by Chris Hudson, formerly at Witham Town FC and his assistant, Brian Sawyer. The pitch and its surround, including floodlights has had a major make-over since last season as the promoted First Team maintain their promotion push in the Thurlow Nunn Football League.
On the other hand Gas Recreation FC, so often the feared yardstick, have gone through a difficult patch recently losing three matches in a row and were clearly struggling to raise a side for this early kick-off, new Manager Simon Hayward clearly felt let down by players calling off on the morning of the match and with numerous suspensions his player selection was seriously compromised.
The Match official for this keenly anticipated match despite the gloomy weather, was Matthew Jarvis who would be ably assisted by M/S Susan Newton and Phil Molloy
Gas kicked off and attacked down the centre of the pitch where Caley raced between Cullen and Farthing before passing to ASTON FIRKENS (0 – 1) who skipped round Lowry and beat keeper, Williams with a shot across the face of the goal, I’m not sure that was in the home teams script but the visitors had stolen an early lead. After only three minutes Cullen was injured when he cleared a loose ball, with his foot striking the raised foot of Willoughby, running in to attempt a block on the ball, Cullen limped off and on eight minutes was eventually replaced by Adams. It took Coggeshall more than ten minutes to get their act together and when Gilder got forward he lobbed the ball over Hooper into the path of Adams who lobbed Ringe as he left his goal-line but the ball drifted just wide but much better from the home team whose passing game was beginning to have an effect. Gregory dived into a challenge on Okosi half-way inside his own half, Flatts took the free-kick and JORDAN PALMER (1 – 1) rose unchallenged to clinically head home for the equaliser after eighteen minutes. Three minutes later and Coggeshall were awarded a penalty kick, Dale and Gregory each stuck out a leg to try to block Palmer as he pushed between the defensive pair, looked a fair call from where I was sitting, Gregory spoke out of turn to earn a cheap caution for dissent and it remained for JORDAN PALMER (2 – 1) to thump home the spot-kick. Let’s be honest here, the referee only gets one chance to call a decision correctly, from what I saw it looked correct, however when the incident was replayed on the clubhouse TV after the match it showed no contact on the Coggeshall player, so was there intent to foul by the Gas defenders or did the Coggeshall player take a dive!
On twenty-five minutes Girling fouled Flatts as they tussled down by the corner flag from which the home team were awarded a free-kick, taken by Flatts and headed home at the near post by KEIRAN ADAMS (3 – 1) who again was allowed too much space by the static Gas defence and the home team were looking considerably more positive after their early set-back. Five minutes later and the strength and pace of Osinoiki saw his run down the left side take him past three Gas players before playing in Adams who drew the keeper who could only partially parry the ball into the path of PERRIE FLATTS (4 – 1) who guided the bouncing ball home despite a desperate attempt to stop it entering the net by Girling. After the restart Ayton was cautioned for a foul on Okosi and on thirty-five minutes Hooper recklessly clattered into play-maker Flatts,, to be instantly dismissed by the on-the-spot referee. Dale and Mensah had a running dual down the Coggeshall left side, two quick and strong players who were committed to their jobs on the field of play, Willoughby, leading the Gas forward line was a constant menace chasing every ball forward and giving defenders little time to dwell on the ball and when Farthing hesitated on his clearance Willoughby blocked the ball and chased forward where keeper Williams advanced to clear for a goal-kick as the ball hit Willoughby and bounced wide, but that ball could have gone anywhere, including the goal as the home team rode their luck!
As Gas raised their game before half-time West dribbled the ball out of the Gas defence finding Caley but his pass between the home defenders found Willoughby in an off-side position then Willoughby fed Craig who found Dale racing through but keeper Williams advanced to save at his feet. Osinoiki made a quick break down the left side finding Adams before West intervened and Coggeshall regained the upper hand as ten man Gas were forced to play the ball forward from deep in defence, Willoughby continued to chase on his own in attack with captain, Craig trying his hardest to motivate his despondent team-mates as Coggeshall sprayed the ball around the pitch.
HALF-TIME: 4 – 1
Coggeshall Town FC Reserves restarted the match as the gloomy conditions deteriorated further, a ball from Palmer hit the arm of Dale for a free-kick taken by Okosi but deflected wide by Gregory for a corner, taken by Flatts but cleared up-field by Willoughby to Gregory and wide to Craig whose shot flew wide. Osinoiki broke away down the left side cutting inside of Dale but his clipped cross dipped just over the cross-bar to land on the top of the goal-net. Another attack from Adams saw him draw the keeper but his shot flashed wide and the same player used his pace to force Gregory to concede a corner then a cross from Flatts found Palmer and Adams competing for the same ball on the penalty spot with Gas defenders absent! A strong run out of defence by Gregory through the middle of the pitch enabled him to find Willoughby who screwed his shot wide of the target. Another decent attack by Firkens was brought back for a free-kick when he was unfairly challenged despite a dribble that saw him evade three tackles unfortunately the free-kick taken by Firkens flew straight to keeper Williams.
Gilder won a telling tackle just inside his own half as Gas threatened and from his pass Palmer waltzed around one tackle, saw the keeper make a fine save and when he got his second goal-bound shot away Girling got back to hack the ball off the goal-line and deny a hat-trick for Palmer. Another free-kick from Firkens was headed clear by Palmer but only to Craig whose first time volley hit Gilder before looping over the cross-bar. Gas seemed buoyed by this effort and when Willoughby chased once again Farthing failed to clear a loose ball and RYAN CALEY (4 – 2) pounced to score for the Gas. Gregory tried a long range effort, once again from the persistent chasing by Willoughby and one sixty-five minutes Coggeshall replaced keeper Williams with substitute keeper Whymark, presumably for an injury! Loveridge chased forward from a pass by Flatts with Dale conceding a corner from which Gas defenders cleared off their goal-line, not once but twice as Coggeshall pressed for further goals. On seventy minutes Flatts worked his way down the left side and when his bouncing cross fell inside the penalty area Palmer challenged for the ball alongside Osinoiki with ABRAHAM OSINOKI (5 – 2) getting the final touch to make the score five goals to two.
Despite this further set-back Craig and Willoughby continued to work hard for the Gas but their restricted game-plan was further hampered when Gregory, who had already been cautioned, chased back to put in a late challenge on Lowry to earn a second yellow card and an early shower! Willoughby, much to his annoyment, was replaced by Binns and soon after Mensah stupidly went literally, head to head with the innocent Craig to earn a caution, touching head to head is a caution, using force, ie a head-butt, is a dismissal according to the new rules this season, not the first incident of this nature I have witnessed or heard about but there is no need for players to resort to this action! Once again Osinoiki used his considerable pace to get past Dale finding Palmer, whose first time shot hit the diving keeper to loop over the cross-bar and Coggeshall regained the upper hand. With ten minutes remaining Mensah ran out of defence beating Caley and Craig before losing control of the ball and clattering into Dale, an action which caused the issue of his second yellow card and he too took a walk back to the changing room, being sensibly ushered away by home club members as he momentarily lost his head, once again the referee had little choice to take the action he did.
At the other end RYAN CALEY (5 – 3) added his second goal of the game, his team’s third, once again beating Farthing to the ball to sweep it home from close range then a great run by Firkens was stopped by a fine challenge by Flatts and Osinoiki was replaced by Whitfield on eighty-five minutes. Had we seen the last of the goals, as with eight goals scored already and only five minutes remaining surely it was game over, not on your life, as from a corner taken by Flatts to the edge of the penalty area the ball fell at the right height to allow NICHOLAS FARTHING (6 – 3) to drill the ball high into the top of the net for a six goals to three score-line. Only three minutes remained when Craig, who else, chased a long ball forward, chipping the ball over Gilder to DEAN WEST (6 – 4) who had got forward and he fairly smashed the loose ball home, a rare goal for him as well. Craig, again forced keeper Whymark to save at the second attempt as another chance went begging for the Gas but it was JORDAN PALMER (7 – 4) who had the final say eventually completing his hat-trick latching onto the final pass after an excellent attack by the home team.
FULL TIME: 7 – 4
Not necessarily a game for the football purists, some shoddy defending which will give nightmares to both defences and more so the respective managers, some needless cautions and dismissals that effectively helped to spoil what should have been a close contest however, there were moments of class from both teams and some good goals as well.
Whilst I know that getting teams available every week, especially as we approach Christmas is difficult enough, and with more and more players having to work longer hours and at weekends to earn a decent crust to clothe and feed families and pay mortgages, please spare a thought for your club / team managers, not just in this game as after last weekend I can name at least half-a-dozen matches that similarly suffered the dreaded disease called “players calling-off”. Some teams actually played with less than eleven players but the matches were played so well done to those teams for persevering with reduced numbers even if the score-line was a heavy defeat!
Now to choose a Man of the Match, Dale, Girling, Craig, Firkens and Willoughby did not give up the fight for the self-inflicted but depleted Gas team however Coggeshall also had several stand-out players. Mensah, until his dismissal, Farthing despite a couple of defensive errors plus a goal, Gilder, Loveridge, Osinoiki, another goal-scorer, and three goal Palmer all played well, but who have I missed, well with one goal and at least four goal-scoring assists, plenty of prompting in attack plus tackling back when required then step forward Perrie Flatts.
Teams:
COGGESHALL TOWN FC RESERVES: Colours: Red & Black Striped Shirts., Black Shorts and Red Socks.
Daniel Williams., Hayden Lowry., Abednego Mensah., Lee Cullen (C)., Nicholas Farthing., Henri Okosi., Perrie Flatts., Dean Gilder., Ricky Loveridge., Jordan Palmer., Abraham Osinoiki.
Manager: Christopher Hudson.
Assistant Manager: Brian Sawyer.
Used Substitutes: Keiran Adams., William Whitfield., Laurence Whymark.
Unused Substitutes: Jack Harrod., Toby Blanche.
GAS RECREATION FC: Colours: Blue Shirts., Blue Shorts and Blue Socks.
Elliot Ringe., Ryan Dale., Ben Girling., Jack Gregory., Scott Hooper., Lewis Ayton., Eldon Craig (C)., Dean West., Ryan Caley., Harry Willoughby., Aston Firkens.
Manager: Simon Hayward.
Used Substitutes: Kyle Binns
Unused Substitutes: Calvin Firkins
Referee: Matt Jarvis (Maldon).
Assistant Referee’s: M/s Sue Newton (Witham).
and Phil Molloy (Colchester).
Man of the Match: Perrie FLATTS (COGGESHALL TOWN FC Reserves)
NB – Fixtures for January 2017 will be released as soon as possible
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 2:00pm in: 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.
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