14/01/2017 – Report – West Bergholt FC Reserves versus University of Essex FC Reserves
ANDREAS CARTER ESSEX & SUFFOLK BORDER FOOTBALL LEAGUE
DIVISION ONE
WEST BERGHOLT FC RESERVES: 3.
UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX FC RESERVES: 1.
Date: Saturday 14th January 2017. Venue: Lorkin Daniel Field, West Bergholt.
From last Tuesday evenings top of the table clash in the Premier Division to the bottom of Division One to watch the game between West Bergholt FC Reserves and University of Essex FC Reserves with the home team who have not had the best of seasons so far, looking for their first victory! They had also drafted in Jimmy McIntyre to help along with an old friend of mine, Russell Mead, to help stabilise the club still reeling from the death of their Club Secretary. On the other hand the visitors have not played since Saturday 17th December 2016 and with players still to return from the Christmas vacation were slightly out of sorts with players having trouble finding the ground! Note: if you use the “postcode” quoted in the ESBFL Handbook you will get close to the ground at West Bergholt but if you key in “Lexden Road” there are, according to Google Maps, two in the Colchester area!
Once the full University team had arrived and with their team sheet handed to the referee, Susan Newton, the next challenge was to decipher their names, I had to check “FA Full-Time” to correct my notes!
So on a bright sunny afternoon and on a soft pitch, the conditions were near perfect and after the “Respect” handshake the home team kicked off playing away from the clubhouse. Price received the ball and after he set Chatters away his pass wide to the right wing reached Wilde whose cross was poor and keeper Senga caught the ball. Carmichael and Ominiabohs were both caught offside when the University tried their first foray forward, both from through balls from midfielder Lipman then a corner taken by Gildea was cleared by Dzangere to Ominiabohs who broke away but his rushed right foot shot flew wide of the goal, a wasted opportunity. A Bethell (B) free-kick was cleared by Feathers then Price was through on goal with Senga saving with his feet but another chance in this game which had yet to really liven up. The leggy Ominiabohs tried another run at goal but could only get a corner off Farrow, taken by Borg with Ominiabohs heading wide and it was clear that spaces were opening up so long as players chose the right option to attack. A fine break forward by Lipman should have had a result but Carmichael and Ominiabohs in their eagerness had both strayed offside and from the restart the free-kick taken by Hallas fell at the feet of Chatters whose run at goal was stopped by keeper Senga.
Another break from the University broke down allowing West Bergholt to get forward down the right wing through Newman who got past Carmichael to send in a low cross which was turned home by CHRIS PRICE standing almost on the goal-line for the opening goal after fifteen minutes. Chatters kept up the home momentum with a ball wide to Newman whose cross was met by Revie who shot wide but this was much better from the home team and more good work followed with Gildea setting Price up for a shot which Senga saved. West Bergholt continued to push forward with Bethell (B) finding Gildea whose cross was cut out by Senga, the busier of the two keepers, Borg won a corner off Farrow which Borg took only for Carmichael to be blocked out as his shot was about to leave his foot to give another corner, again taken by Borg but dropped by Mitson with Ominiabohs unable to reach the loose ball before it was gathered by the keeper. Mitson was then forced to catch a cross from Bullimore then using his feet to save from Lipman whilst West Bergholt through Revie set up Chatters whose curling cross, was tipped over the cross-bar by Senga. From the resulting corner taken by Gildea a header by Hallas was expertly tipped over again by Senga but when the same corner combination followed CRAIG HALLAS was on hand to score, this time with his head and put the home side into a two goals lead at the twenty-five minute mark.
When Revie fouled Feathers, the long free-kick from Lipman was fielded by Mitson and when the University tried again Ominiabohs was once again through one-on-one with Mitson who recovered to save with his feet, Hallas was injured in a tackle requiring treatment, no free-kick was given despite the challenge from behind but with his team in possession play continued. Another long free-kick from Lipman was cleared by Wilde to Revie whose snap shot flew to Senga and when Revie played the ball wide to Newman his low cross was scooped over the cross-bar by Price standing inside the six-yard box, a glaring miss! With thirty-five minutes gone both Carmichael and Ominiabohs had shots high and wide with the latter player once again caught off-side from a Lipman pass and again from a pass from Carmichael. Revie, as Captain, had set an example to his team mates with his enthusiasm by chasing every ball and putting in numerous tackles when required and he still seems to have that turn of pace when chasing back as University broke forward down the right wing. On forty minutes Mitson made a tremendous save from Ominiabohs who latched onto a pass by Feathers who received the ball from Bullimore and the home defence was tested again right on half-time when a poor clearance by Price conceded a corner, taken by Borg but cleared by Revie.
HALF-TIME: 2 – 0
So after a somewhat scrappy first half we were hoping for an improvement on the fare so far, could the University make better use of their chances and they had several to look back on or would the home team hold on to their lead for a first victory. The University kicked-off, Price brought the ball out of defence finding Revie and then Chatters whose left foot cross cannoned off Lipman to Gildea who volleyed over from ten yards out. Chatters found Bethell (B) who laid the ball back to Chatters, who shot over the goal, then Revie set up Chatters who turned one way then the other but his curling right footed effort drifted just past the far post, maybe setting his sights up for later in the game. Five minutes into the second half and the University finally made use of the ball when Lipman picked it up inside his own half driving forward down the left wing to send in a low cross which defender Wilde missed but ROBO OMINIABOHS did not, and he scored the easiest of goals from very close range. Almost straight from the restart West Bergholt scored again, Revie won a crucial tackle and played a fine through ball onto which JIMMY CHATTERS ran to draw the keeper and side-foot home, a classic finish from the front-man from a classic pass from the midfielder.
A deep run down the right by Borg saw his cross reach Carmichael who shot wide from a decent position and the University replaced Dzangere with Love but that defensive change was powerless to stop Chatters who drifted through with the ball but Senga stuck out a leg to divert the ball over the cross-bar. On the hour mark Player, Manager Bullimore limped off with White replacing him in midfield, Revie was hurt in a tackle he made on Lipman who ran on to find Borg whose shot was saved by Mitson. Chatters put another effort over the cross-bar allowing West Bergholt to replace the injured Revie with Bethell (J) but Borg had the next chance opting to shoot straight at Mitson, who saved comfortably, instead of using Carmichael or Ominiabohs running free on the left side. Price fed Bethell (B) with the ball reaching Chatters who sprayed an expansive pass wide to Bethell (B) with Guhad stopping the play with a well judged tackle. Borg and Carmichael tried their luck again with the latter player forcing Mitson to save his dipping volley for a corner kick.
West Bergholt had defended well from the back and managed to find either their midfield or forwards with clearances from one such chance Gildea crossed to Chatters, whose first time control was excellent and only the outstretched leg of Senga stopped what could have been another goal. West Bergholt made another change with Newman being replaced by Bloomfield and from a corner a close range effort by Chatters was cleared off the goal-line by Long whose eventual long clearance found Lipman running forward to pass to Carmichael and then Ominiabohs whose shot was weak and failed to trouble Mitson. When Price was fouled with eight minutes to go West Bergholt replaced Wilde with Read and the home team kept going forward looking to improve their goals for tally against a tiring University team who had not trained over the Christmas period either. Chatters put the ball over the cross-bar from three yards out, a Bethell (B) corner was headed goalwards by Pyle whilst Senga made another save to deny Bethell (B) and Gildea should have scored when he was clean through in the last minute.
FULL TIME: 3 – 1
Not a classic match by any means, more a basement battle with winless West Bergholt at last getting three deserved points, so hopefully, for them its onwards and upwards with games in hand on second last Lawford Lads FC.
For my Man-of-the-Match selection, for the second Saturday running it was two, older more experienced players that caught the eye, Revie led by example from back to front but Chatters stole the nomination due to his constant probing and trickery in front of goal, scoring one but he could have had five as the visitors failed to get to grips with a player also rolling back the years.
Teams:
WEST BERGHOLT FC RESERVES: Colours: Blue Shirts, Blue & White Shorts and Blue Socks.
Andrew Mitson., Connor Wilde., Shane Farrow., Sebastian Pyle., Craig Hallas., Perry Newman., Chris Price., Darren Revie (C)., Callum Gildea., Jimmy Chatters., Bobby Bethell
Manager: Shane Farrow.
Assistants: Jimmy McIntyre & Russell McLean.
Used Substitutes: Luke Bloomfield., Connor Read., Jake Bethell.
Unused Substitutes: Joel Barton., Joe Nuttall.
UNIVERISTY OF ESSEX FC: Colours: Red Shirts, Black Shorts and Red Socks.
Felix Senga., Michael Dzangere., Charlie Bates., Constandinos Gaughan., Sam Feathers., Musa Guhad., Harry Bullimore (C)., Michael Lipman., Miquel Borg., Connor Carmichael., Robo Ominiabohs.
Manager: Harry Bullimore.
Used Substitutes: Craig Love., Reuben White.
Referee: M/s Susan Newton (Witham)
Man of the Match: Jimmy CHATTERS (WEST BERGHOLT FC RESERVES)
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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: 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.
( www.essexfa.com/competitions/county-cups )
ESBFL “web-site”
The web-site for the Essex & Suffolk Border Football League is: www.esblfootball.com
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