12/03/2022 – REPORT – Brantham Athletic FC Reserves versus Sudbury Sports FC

ESSEX & SUFFOLK BORDER FOOTBALL LEAGUE

PREMIER DIVISION

BRANTHAM ATHLETIC FC RESERVES         0.                 SUDBURY SPORTS         1.

Date:   Saturday 12^th March 2022.                Venue:             Brantham Leisure Centre, Brantham.

            There were just three Premier Division Teams that I had not seen play this season so the pairing of eighth placed Brantham Athletic FC Reserves and tenth placed Sudbury Sports FC helped me clear two of those in one go! I have to say that the Brantham pitch looked in good condition, slightly harder than expected given some of the recent rainfall and now surrounded by some impressive new fencing, things are looking up! This mid-table clash was definitely one for the younger players, the home sported two experienced players in Webb and Palmer whilst Sudbury called up a similarly experienced goalkeeper in Kevin Holland, the outfield players being from the Sudbury Academy. 

            On a bright, sunny, but cold March afternoon with a decent group of spectators, present, the referee for this Premier Division match was local referee Dean Welham, an official who has officiated at a higher level and an official who talks to players throughout, so there were no excuses when decisions were made as the warnings clearly went unheeded! Club Assistants would help the referee throughout.

            Sudbury Sports FC kicked-off playing away from the Clubhouse end, Watkins made a timely tackle and, Long sent a long throw-in down the line to Watkins to Stern who lobbed the ball over the cross-bar, the latter player then fouling Ayiteyfio. Elseidy attacked down the right side for the home team, inside, outside before shooting across goal and Monteith-Weed was then spoken too by the referee along with Lawson of Brantham, the handbags out already! Eveleigh was almost caught in possession when playing out of his penalty area, a foul was committed on Watkins, the free-kick taken by Palmer was headed clear by Chivers but only to Riley who shot wide of the goal. Sudbury started their first move of intent with Monteith-Weed finding Eveleigh only for defender Palmer to read the danger and head clear, the ball was moved swiftly forward, Arnold ran through a static defence only to smack the ball against the cross-bar and down into the goal-mouth, shouts of “goal” went up, neither the referee nor the Club Assistant had any chance to decide if the whole of the ball had crossed the line but play continued, irrespectively. As we approached the fifteen-minute mark, Sudbury had weathered the home attacks and were now pushing Brantham back with Webb and Riley key to this defending as Smith and Arnold threatened.

            A shot on the turn by Elseidy cannoned off Badham for a corner, safely negotiated by the visitor’s defence and Badham and Smith attacked at pace, down the left side, again Palmer read the danger to clear, Chivers fouled Stern, wide near the corner flag, why do players tackle in those positions, beats me! Long took the free-kick, short, finding Lawson who shot over the cross-bar, another Brantham free-kick followed, Long found Lawson whose rising cross was missed by Arnold just yards from goal, these chances, and there had been few so far, need to be taken! Sudbury won their first corner on twenty minutes Badham took the kick finding Hillyard who was well tackled by Watkins. On twenty-five minutes a cross-cum-shot from Webb almost paid dividends with Sudbury out of position despite clear instructions coming from the technical area and to be honest, someone in close proximity to me said, both teams need to relax. Monteith-Weed required treatment after falling heavily and momentarily had to leave the pitch after treatment. Elseidy and Stern worked the ball forward for Brantham, but that final ball had too much weight on it and keeper, with Holland collecting the ball on the edge of his penalty area. The same player combination almost struck again but keeper, Holland was well placed to catch a weak shot, the keeper rolled the ball out to Ayiteyfio who sent Arnold away only for Palmer to get across to cover and clear up-field.

            This game had potential from two very young sets of players, they seemed committed to playing football, but too many enforced errors from both sides frustrated their possession and final pass with goal-scoring chances at a premium. Woolnough fouled Monteith-Weed mid-half, Badham took the free-kick and Palmer headed away, Webb fouled Monteith-Weed, the free-kick was weak and Brantham cleared. A Brantham corner was headed clear by Chivers, then home keeper, Scrivener launched a long clearance, finding Long running forward but his final control was poor, and a goal-kick followed as the half ended.

HALF-TIME:    0 – 0.

            Carpenter, for Brantham restarted this match, not a classic so far, both teams effectively cancelling out each other, looks like a draw or odds-on, one goal will decide this contest between evenly matched teams. Ayiteyfio made a strong but fair, challenge to stop Carpenter and the visitors pushed forward through Smith and Badham who seem to have good understanding in midfield, Eveleigh almost capitalised as Brantham dithered but his goal-bound shot was blocked by Riley. When Stern threatened down the left side, defender Ayiteyfio put in a good challenge and the ball ran out of play and on fifty-three minutes Sudbury replaced Chance with Hart. Hillyard, had seen little of the ball in the first half but showed some skill heading the ball on, then giving chase, forcing keeper, Scrivener into a fine save, the follow up from Monteith-Weed was also saved by the keeper. Home pressure from Lawson forced a corner off substitute Hart, and when play stopped again Brantham replaced Watkins with Glen, and this led to an attack from Eveleigh who drilled shot just wide.

            Just past the hour mark, a goal, to be honest, hadn’t seen one coming yet but JAMIE EVELEIGH picked up a loose ball, ran on from the edge of the penalty area before somehow getting the ball into the back of the net, a combination of knee, shin and foot did the trick, not pretty but they all count! Rawlinson fouled Riley then Monteith-Weed did the same on Palmer, last one, said the referee, it was not that sort of game, the free-kick drifted forward finding Webb who could only help the ball over the cross-bar. Sudbury made a second change with Arnold being replaced by Price, Brantham made their second change replacing Woolnough with Lang. With twenty minutes remaining, Sudbury, one goal up, started to play the ball around with more confidence, mindful that a goal for Brantham could change the balance of play, a corner was gained but Hart rose to head clear for Sudbury.

            On seventy-five minutes Brantham replaced Carpenter with Kabangu, a former Sudbury player, and within minutes Sudbury used their third substitute with Rawlinson being replaced by Pearce. A weak shot from Stern failed to test keeper, Holland, and from his long clearance Monteith-Wood ran on past Riley but shot straight at keeper, Scrivener. Ayiteyfio fouled Elseidy just outside the corner of the penalty area, Elseidy took the free-kick but could only clear the defensive wall and the goal, another wasted free-kick. Hart fouled Palmer, who had pushed forward in a late foray forward, the substitute earning the first caution of the match for delaying the restart by kicking the ball away, an easy twelve pounds for the county there then! Sudbury were defending deep and in numbers at this late stage, the final minutes were ticking away, nothing stupid required, with three points in the bag. There had been a long injury stoppage for a Sudbury player earlier in the half so when the visitors got forward Badham broke into the penalty area, defender Palmer moved across to physically block any further progress and a penalty kick was awarded, Palmer was cautioned for denying a goal-scoring opportunity, Badham stepped up to take the spot-kick, superbly saved by keeper Scrivener and with play stopped both Riley and Glen were shown a yellow card and sent to the “Sin-Bin” for dissent. Brantham did have the last attack but again, Hart, stepped in to head the ball away, good defending once again to keep a clean sheet for his team.

FULL TIME:     0 – 1.

            As I said earlier, not a classic match, two evenly matched teams, brimming with youth and ability, so equal that they virtually cancelled each other out, one goal was all that was required, even that could be described a s a scuffed effort! With this victory Sudbury Sports leap-frogged Brantham Athletic FC Reserves into eighth place with the home team dropping to ninth and both on forty-one points.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Now, let’s turn to my “Star Player, a difficult choice given the way the game was played, few players stood out, Palmer and Webb were the glue holding the home team together, for Sudbury, Ayiteyfio played well as did Hillyard up top, substitute Hart made some telling clearances when he came on, but as the game wore on Smith upped his game to put in some telling challenges and provide decent passes to set things going.

Teams:

BRANTHAM ATHLETIC FC RESERVES:          

Colours:                        Blue Shirts, Blue Shorts and Blue Socks.

Team:

James Scrivener., Nicky Palmer., Maxwell Long., Shaun Webb (C)., Liam Riley., Lewis Woolnough., Thomas Watkins., Tom Lawson., Aidan Carpenter., Zachary Elseidy., Aidan Stern.

Manager:                      Craig Clarke.

Used Substitutes:           Harry Glen., George Lang., Rauf Kabangu.

Unused Substitutes:       Allan Merchant., Craig Clarke.

SUDBURY SPORTS FC

Colours:                        Yellow Shirts, Yellow Shorts and Yellow Socks.

Team:

Kevin Holland., Keely Ayiteyfio., Jamie Eveleigh., Thomas Chivers (C)., Harvey Rawlinson., Thomas Chance., Brae Smith., Bobby Badham., Louie Arnold., Benjamin Monteith-Weed., Colby Hillyard.

Manager:                      Danny Laws

Used Substitutes:           Oliver Hart., Liam Pearce., Matthew Price.

Referee:                        Dean Welham.

Star Player:                Brae SMITH                            (SUDBURY SPORTS 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

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.