12/02/2022 – REPORT – Felixstowe & Walton United FC U23’s versus Colne athletic FC

ESSEX & SUFFOLK BORDER FOOTBALL LEAGUE

PREMIER DIVISION

FELIXSTOWE & WALTON UNITED U23’s    1.                 COLNE ATHLETIC FC      2.

Date:   Saturday 12^th February 2022.            Venue:             Goldstar Ground, Felixstowe.           

            Once again, the match I had intended to watch was postponed, so with the weather fair, sunny, but with a cold wind, I travelled up the east coast to the Goldstar Ground, home of Felixstowe & Walton United FC, where the Under 23 team were to play Colne Athletic FC. Apparently, the home team were shorn of three players who were called up for First Team duties at Tilbury whilst for Colne Athletic FC there were some new faces from those, I saw playing in the second half last week against Stanway Pegasus FC. For the visitors, Assistant Manager, Jamie Thompson, presumably volunteered to go in goal with their usual custodian dismissed, in unusual circumstances last weekend! The home team, languishing at the bottom of the table, are by their title, under 23, so a youthful line-up was on show against the more experienced and physically attuned visitors who sat fifth in the table before kick-off.     

            The referee for this Premier Division match was Simon Bird, who would be assisted by Club Assistants who, to be fair, did a good job throughout, the pitch was in excellent condition, flat and soft on top but ideal for a passing game, just the wind to contend with then!

            Felixstowe kicked off, pushing forward with Burch passing the ball back to keeper, Thompson who passed it back to Burch, who took his eye of the ball, failed to control the ball and a first throw-in was awarded to the home team. Felixstowe were playing high up the pitch at this early stage, a long range shot from Compton hit Olymbios, in central mid-field and the visitors needed to get hold of the ball and react quicker when under pressure. Keeper, Thompson, never a quiet player, called for and collected a cross, unchallenged, from Hooley on the left wing and from his clearance, Olymbios sent the ball forward giving Price an opportunity to stretch his legs with home keeper, Button quickly out to collect inside the penalty area. Burch committed the first foul, when impeding the quick turn of Oke and received a spoken word from the referee. Horton made a fine challenge on Heron when he threatened near the edge of the penalty area, another cross from Hooley was again fielded by keeper, Thompson, another loud call and comfortable catch, this time under pressure from Compton, once again the direct, route one, play started, Heron gave chase finding Price, whose cross was good, but Brown (D) had strayed off-side. A free-kick taken, left-footed by McCracken, found the head of defensive partner, Burch but the header was over the cross-bar, then Flack tried his luck with an attempted shot from thirty yards, but high and wide, from the defender. Olymbios started another move through mid-field, finding Price, then Watts, but a well-timed challenge was made by Compton whose clearance found Warren (L) who set Hooley away, past Bradley with keeper, Thompson forced to save low down with an outstretched foot.

            This game had started well, fairly open, both teams trying to attack, home defender Horton was injured in the process of making a tackle, outside the penalty area, he needed treatment and momentarily left the field of play. The visitor’s keeper, Thompson had so far, been the busier of the two custodians, that was to change as on fifteen minutes the first goal, home keeper Button made a poor clearance that found Olymbios whose downward header fell to Price who was rudely dumped on the ground by Smedley. The home team put up a four-man defensive wall, JOE MCCRACKEN lined up his left footed shot, the ball evaded the wall only for crouching keeper, Button, to allow the ball to run through his arms and legs and into the goal, a massive error by the distraught keeper. The Felixstowe response was positive, Sylla sent the ball wide to Hooley who tried to take on Burch who shielded the ball out for a goal-kick, a free-kick taken by Hooley was headed clear by Burch and when defender Saberton dived heavily into a challenge on Price, near the corner flag he received the first yellow card of the match. McCracken took the free-kick, ins-winging, left-footed with Horton heading away to McCracken who sent the ball skywards in his attempt to shoot from distance. Warren (L) impeded Flack, McCracken took the free-kick but keeper, Button was confidently calling and catching the ball near the penalty spot, this half was becoming a bit disjointed!

            Colne pressed forward again. Brown (R), found Heron, but he was flagged off-side, then McCracken leaned into Oke inside the penalty area, Oke fell to the floor, a call for a penalty was heard but nothing was considered it was the physical strength of the defender over the young centre-forward. Olymbios hit Hooley with a heavy challenge from behind and rightly received a caution on the half-way line, and Olymbios was in action again soon after, setting Flack away down the left side with his cross finding, Heron who headed wide. Colne scored their second goal on thirty-five minutes, Heron picked up a pass from Olymbios then played the ball wide to DANIEL PRICE who ran past Bareham before scoring with a well-placed shot, giving keeper, Button no chance to save. Olymbios was relishing his mid-field role and after eluding two challenges sent the ball forward towards Price, but Horton made a timely interception just outside the penalty area. Smedley was spoken too about some verbal dissent, this after the momentum of Price had dragged the ball out of the gloved hands of keeper, Button, who soon recovered. Colne, led from the back by the vociferous Thompson, held the upper hand and despite some niggly fouls by his defence, one a foul by Burch on Oke, was just outside the penalty area, the free-kick was struck into the defensive wall and the danger was cleared. At the other end a cross from Bradley found Price but Horton put the ball out for a corner, taken by McCracken but headed clear by Smedley, then Bradley and Burch combined to find Price, again defended well by Saberton who them clumsily gave the ball away with Horton getting whacked by Watts, clearly the player was injured and was still receiving treatment as the game was brought to the half-time close. Hooley spoke out of turn about the “incident” and received a caution for his indiscretion.

HALF-TIME:    0 – 2.

            Colne restarted the second half, Felixstowe had replaced the stricken Horton with Germain at half-time, Bradley sent Price away, he found Heron but keeper, Button was quickly out at his feet, and from his deep clearance the ball fell to Hooley, who tried a hopeful lob over keeper, Thompson, who had only had to make one save in the first half. This half had started slowly, Brown (D) was caught off-side from a pass from Heron, another attack, started by Burch, then Bradley to Heron who was denied by keeper, Button, whose defence was once again sitting deep. Keeper, Button was way outside when he had to clear a through ball from McCracken who then impeded Oke on the half-way line, Heron fouled Smedley, who took the free-kick himself, finding Oke, who was fouled by McCracken, and he was spoken too by the referee. Warren (K) took the free-kick but once again the ball failed to get past the defensive wall, why is that, and when the ball went out of play the referee spoke to Heron, probably about his dissent.

            This half was so far, very disjointed, not much in the way of positive action, more niggly fouls though, Brown (D) charged down a clearance from Saberton, at least he put in some effort to get to the ball. Smedley pushed the ball forward to Oke, once again McCracken was there to shield the ball to safety and the game continued in the middle of the pitch, midfielders cancelling each other out. On sixty-six minutes, proper action, Heron drifted away down the right side, his cross found Olymbios who rifled a close range shot goal-wards only for keeper, Button to make a fine save tipping the ball over the cross-bar with the corner taken by Heron cleared by Saberton. Hooley for Felixstowe had been the brighter of their young players but when he got himself into a good position his shot was snatched, and the ball flew well wide. On seventy minutes Colne replaced Brown (R) with Baker and Usher was seen replacing Watts, like for like players in midfield.

            Felixstowe got on the score-sheet on seventy-seven minutes, Germain played a long cross-field ball finding KURT WARREN who ran on unchallenged to send a low shot past the advancing keeper, Thompson, is this a sign of a home come-back! Price got around the back of the home defence but keeper, Button made a fine save at the near post, Felixstowe, perhaps, sensed an equaliser Saberton found Warren (K) and from his pass Compton gave chase with Burch stepping in to clear the danger at the expense of a corner, taken by Compton with the unmarked Saberton only finding the side netting at the far post. Heron and Price linked up going forward but Smedley intervened but once again any forward ball was intercepted by either Burch or McCracken, who had missed nothing all game.

FULL TIME:     1 – 2.

             This was not a classic match, the young players of Felixstowe had once again found that experience and a bigger physical presence is needed to compete in this top Division, that said, they did not give up, frustrated perhaps that certain things did not come-off, but a credit to their Club. Colne Athletic FC, on the balance of play should have won by a larger margin and could quite easily have conceded a second goal, late on, this victory takes them up to fourth place.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Now, let’s turn to my “Star Player, for Felixstowe, keeper, Button, after a nightmare keeping error made amends with some timely saves, Smedley, and Horton, until his injury, in central defence had coped well, the two Warrens, Compton and Hooley did their best but ran up against a strong visitors midfield and defence. For Colne, Price, Watts and Heron worked hard when chasing the ball, Olymbios and the two Browns did likewise through mid-field, defensively they were sound, Bradley and Flack got down the wings whenever possible with Burch and particularly McCracken giving nothing away, but with a fortunate goal and some reliable defending throughout the latter player gets my nod this week.

Teams:

FELIXSTOWE & WALTON UNITED FC Under 23’S:  

Colours:                        Red & White striped Shirts, Red Shorts and Red Socks.

Team:

Keiran Button., George Bareham., Ben Saberton., Mohamadou Sylla., Joshua Smedley (C)., Daniel Horton., Luke Warren., Cameron Compton., Johnny Oke., Kurt Warren., Charlie Hooley.

Manager:                      Ian McGregor.

Used Substitutes:           Sergio Germain.

COLNE ATHLETIC FC

Colours:                        Blue Shirts, Blue Shorts and Blue Socks.

Team:

Jamie Thompson., Daniel Bradley., Tim Flack., Jack Burch (C)., Joe McCracken., Ryan Brown., Harry Watts., Louis Olymbios., Joseph Heron., Daniel Price., Dale Brown.

Manager:                      Ben Connell.

Assistant Manager:        Jamie Thompson.

Used Substitutes:           Charlie Usher., James Baker.

Unused Substitutes:       Josh Vaughan.

Referee:                        Simon Bird.

Star Player:              Joe McCRACKEN                                 (COLNE ATHLETIC FC)

REMINDERS:

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 Cup Matches, if scores are level at the end of “normal time” the match will proceed directly to penalty kicks.

SUBSTITUTES

The ESBFL continues to allow FIVE SUBSTITUTES to be named before kick-off but only “THREE SUBSTITUTES” may be allowed to participate.

Note:

In Essex County Cups (Premier & Junior) 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 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.

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.

DISCIPLINE

Since the start of the season there have been 45+ players dismissed and over 600 cautions, there have also been several 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

Refreshments for BOTH teams and Match Officials MUST be provided by the home Club at half time unless these are declined before the game. Clubs in default shall be fined.