11/02/2023 – REPORT – Brooklands FC versus Boxford Rovers FC

CHELMSFORD CITY RACECOURSE

ESSEX & SUFFOLK BORDER FOOTBALL LEAGUE

DIVISION FIVE

BROOKLANDS FC.           0.       BOXFORD ROVERS FC.            6.

Date:               Saturday 11^th February 2023             .          

Venue:             Mile End Sports Ground, Ford Lane, Colchester.

            A still but cold afternoon welcomed players and Officials to Mile End Sports Ground on Saturday afternoon where two “ESBFL” matches were to be played, both games were preceded by an impecable minute’s silence in respect of former referee Bryan Forbes, who sadly passed away a week ago, we await details of his funeral, for a referee that commanded respect whenever and wherever he officiated. Of those two matches, I had chosen Brooklands FC against Boxford Rovers FC, a Division Five game between two teams that are new to the ESBFL this season. Brooklands sat seventh whilst Boxford sat a comfortable third and also boasted the Competitions leading goal-scorer, more on that later.

            Another first, for me at least, was the match official who was Francesco Iheanyiogu, also in his first season in the ESBFL, apparently, he arrived at the match using public transport, well done, that’s dedication for you!

            Boxford kicked off and play was predominantly down the left side at a brisk pace, when the ball inadvertently hit the referee, the match was topped with Boxford restarting the game, Healy for Brooklands eventually got forward and from his cross Scourfield handled just level with the penalty area, on the right side, Stanescu took the free-kick right-footed into the defensive wall and from the rebound Stanescu lofted the ball forward where Brewer challenged with Wilson, with a goal-kick following. The first goal arrived on eight minutes, a free-kick from the left side taken by Chokowry fell to ANTHONY PEARCE, one touch, one hit and the ball sailed past static keeper, Chivers. Brooklands hit back with Hamblion getting forward to put in a cross that visiting keeper, Montgomery clutched near his goal line, both goalkeepers had already shown they have the ability to launch huge clearances out of defence. On twelve minutes a corner for Boxford, taken by Hazell (B) was destined for the far post area but Chaplin headed away and Brooklands broke forward, Hazell (B) in his haste to get back, fouled Stanescu, Griffin took this free-kick, Scourfield headed away but only to Stoica whose half-volley forced keeper Montgomery into a low save at the base of the upright.

            With the first fifteen minutes being fairly even, a goal for the visitors have given them impetus and this continued, Salt played in a teasing cross just below head height, Egglestone flung himself at the ball, but could only guide the ball wide of the left hand upright with keeper, Chivers scrambling across his goal, relieved to see the ball go out of play. Home keeper, Chivers played the ball out to Healy, on to Stoica who found Stanescu whose first touch let him down, and he showed some frustration after a decent passing move, with a throw-in following. Boxford scored their second on twenty-two minutes, a fine move down the left side saw an excellent cross come in from Hazell (L) and there was WILL EGGLESTONE to head home, from now on the home team would be up against it! Once again Brooklands moved forward to gain a corner, from which a crucial tackle was made by Holder on Healy, inside the penalty area, another corner followed, taken by Hamblion, with defender Hazell heading back to his keeper, Montgomery. A third goal soon followed, once again Pearce became provider as from his cut back from a deep position on the left side, in came BRADLEY HAZELL to rifle the ball home from twenty-five yards, keeper, Chivers had no chance on this one either, a clinical strike from a player returning from injury. Keeper, Chivers excelled when he tipped over a dipping shot from Evans (Ja) and from the resulting corner, a goalmouth scramble eventually saw Brooklands clear the ball but every corner was causing them problems for the home team.

            Scourfield was injured in a challenge with Brewer, both players got up quickly, shook hands and played on, the home team were now having to defend in depth and numbers, as Boxford poured forward looking for more goals, Gentry conceded a corner when faced by Hazell (L), Hazell (B) took the corner, hanging the ball up at the far post, from where Evans (Ja) tried his luck, but his shot was weak and keeper, Chivers collected. Stoica fouled Pearce across the half-way line and the ball was helped back to keeper, Montgomery whose clearance from his hands bounced once before flying just wide of keeper, Chivers at the other end. Evans (Ja) for Boxford defended well against Healy, a goal-kick followed, then Egglestone showed a clean pair of heels to Gilroy when he dribbled from the half-way line down the right side before forcing keeper, Chivers into a save low down to his right side. Just on the half-time mark Brooklands replaced Brewer with Greggo.

HALF-TIME:    0 – 3.

            Immediately before the re-start Brooklands made another change with Gentry being replaced by Santos, but within twenty-four seconds of that restart Boxford had scored their fourth goal, the ball played to the right came back into ANTHONY PEARCE who ran round a defender before beating the keeper. Tails-up again, and Boxford were looking for a fifth, Pearce and Chokowry worked the ball into Hazell (B) who lobbed the ball just wide then out of the blue Greggo set Healy away but smart keeping by Montgomery in a one-on-one situation saved the day, a clean sheet, a must apparently. Gilroy headed wide from a cross from Healy, and of fifty-five minutes at a stoppage for a corner, Boxford replaced Scourfield and Salt with Herrington and Joyce, then Egglestone picked up the ball, got his head down and ran at a retreating defence before shooting wide with his left foot. Boxford had been quickest to the ball throughout and when in possession looked dangerous through a big team effort. Pearce was again almost provider, again for Egglestone who slipped a delightful cross just wide of the goal and with play again stopped Brooklands replaced Chaplin with Dewitt.

            When a Brooklands corner taken by Stanescu was cleared, there was Egglestone picking up the ball mid-half, his control and then his pace left players behind, the finish was not so good on this occasion though! On sixty-one minutes Brooklands made another substitution, this time Healy gave way for Foster, someone commented that the game had gone flat, I agreed, the result was not in doubt but there was still twenty-five minutes remaining. The Boxford players obviously thought differently and scored a fifth goal on sixty-five minutes, for the second time Chokowry gave an assist, playing the ball through to WILL EGGLESTONE who made no mistake when running on to beat the advancing keeper. Boxford made another player change, Hazell (B) was replaced by Evans (Jo), and within a minute WILL EGGLESTONE had collected another goal, his hat-trick, running through once again onto a loose ball played by Chokowry, his third assist. The only caution of the match was a mis-timed challenge by substitute Joyce, one for the team perhaps, but it stopped Greggo from advancing further towards the penalty area.

            Gilroy stabbed a loose ball just wide when well placed but in all honesty probably thought the ball would never reach him as he stood unmarked at the far post, the response from Boxford was positive, Herrington strode down the right side playing the ball into Egglestone who shot, right-footed but just wide. On seventy-three minutes Boxford made their last two changes, off went Evans (Ja) and Wilson to be replaced by youngsters Wood and Gregg, a late corner taken by Stoica for Brooklands was well caught by keeper, Montgomery and there were ten minutes to play. For once, Brooklands had sight of goal, Greggo let fly and the ball crashed back off the cross-bar with keeper, Montgomery well beaten, then at the other end his opposite number, Chivers made a fine stop in a one-on-one chance with Evans (Jo). The final play of the match saw Foster, for Brooklands sting the hands of keeper, Montgomery with a fine strike from the edge of the penalty area but it was going to be their day!

FULL TIME:     0 – 6.

            For a Division Five match, I was impressed by the commitment and enthusiasm, you can have both and lose heavily as in the case of Brooklands FC, today they were outplayed by a buoyant Boxford Rovers FC outfit who kept running through out and always looked liable to score, the referee let the game flow, he had few issues to deal with, one nailed on caution, and there was no dissent or arguing from anybody, well done.

            Finally, turning to my “Star Player”, for Brooklands FC, not a good day, everyone tried hard, Gilroy in defence was probably their pick for “Star Player”, turning to Boxford Rovers FC they had plenty of quality, Chokowry with three assists played well, up front the pace and trickery of leading scorer Egglestone, who scored a hat-trick, shows why they are high in the table but for me Pearce through mid-field was my player of the match. Of note, those three goals from Egglestone brought his seasons total to thirty-eight goals from just fourteen matches and he has had four more chalked off following the demise of Tollesbury FC Reserves.

            The other match played at Mile End was Abbey Fields FC versus Cavendish FC Reserves, goals galore here as well, Cavendish led by two goals before Abbey Fields scored three to lead, only for the visitors to equalise with minutes remaining, referee Mariusz Buchan advised me he thoroughly enjoyed it, that’s two happy officials here then!

Teams:

BROOKLANDS FC:     

Colours:                        Blue & White Shirts, Blue Socks & Blue Socks.

Team:

Wayne Chivers., Johnpaul Healy., Laurentiu Stoica., Jake Gilroy., Adam Thomas., Drew Hamblion., Steve Brewer (C)., Nathan Chaplin., Marius Stanescu., Gary Griffin., Stuart Gentry.

Manager:                      Peter Wilson.

Assistant Manager:        Michael Mander.

Used Substitutes:           Ashley Foster., Shaun Dewitt., Reece Greggo., Henrique Santos.

Unused Substitutes:       Peter Wilson.

BOXFORD ROVERS FC.

Colours:                        White Shirts, Black Shorts and Red Socks.

Team:

Jack Montgomery., Bradley Hazell., Jack Evans., Nathan Holder (C)., Harry Wilson., Harrison Scourfield., Liam Hazell., Ollie Salt., Anthony Pearce, Aadam Chokowry., Will Egglestone.

Manager:                      Richard Robinson.

Used Substitutes:           Elliot Herrington., Joshua Evans., Jamie Wood., Connor Gregg., Alexander Joyce.

Referee:                        Francesco Iheanyiogu.

Star Player:                Anthony PEARCE                        (BOXFORD ROVERS 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

February:                                                                      14:30pm

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.