15/09/2020 – REPORT – FC CLACTON RESERVES VERSUS DUNMOW TOWN FC

ESSEX & SUFFOLK BORDER FOOTBALL LEAGUE

DIVISION ONE.

FC CLACTON RESERVES: 0. DUNMOW TOWN FC: 6.

Date: Tuesday 16^th September 2020. Venue: The Austin Arena, Clacton-on-sea.

I picked out this interesting match for a mid-week visit, I have to say that the pitch at “The Austin Arena” looked immaculate, the lockdown and plenty of water has provided a lush surface albeit a bit hard underfoot for this match. FC Clacton Reserves were having a decent season before COVID-19 took-over and curtailed the season early, none-the-less Manager, Lionel Toms has kept faith with his players and added several youth players, in fact three sixteen-year old were in the squad for this match. Now Dunmow Town FC are totally new, three months ago they did not exist however, much has been said and written about their rise to prominence, the ESBFL, fully understanding the quality of their expected playing strength placed them into Division One but I think it is clear their ambitions are to play higher. They had suffered a first game defeat to Stanway Pegasus FC Reserves and did not play last Saturday so it could be an interesting evening!

The Match Official for this match was Stuart Hannam and for a change in Division One two Assistant Referees were appointed, Rhys Collins and Tony Vaughan for a match played under floodlights.

FC Clacton kicked-off and should have taken the lead inside forty seconds when a long cross eluded everyone with Thompson just shy of realising the ball was there to score however his snatched effort from six yards flew narrowly wide. On two minutes, a goal, from a free-kick played into the penalty area, MacKenzie fell under a challenge, nothing given but with the loose ball not cleared KIRTYS MacKENZIE stuck a big left foot through the ball to beat keeper, Burnby from ten yards. Keeper, Burnby made a fine save to deny Garfinkle whose run was allowed to continue despite a poor attempt at a tackle by Forsythe who was cautioned once play stopped elsewhere. This game started at a very fast pace, could it be maintained, the youth of the home team or the experience of the visitors had eighty more minutes to play. On eleven minutes Dunmow increased their lead, a fine move from midfield, Garfinkle found Maxwell and from his driven cross MILOS VUKASINOVIC rammed the ball home from close range. FC Clacton Reserves did stir themselves to earn a free-kick, taken by Taylor and in the resulting goalmouth scramble the ball entered the net through the legs of keeper, Bransgrove, unfortunately the Assistant Referee had spotted, like many of us, a handball in the build-up, goal disallowed. From the restart Douglas sent Garfinkle away but the home defence covered the danger, this time”!

On fifteen minutes Thompson was clattered by Maxwell, wide on the half-way line and just between the dug-out area, it was a heavy untimely challenge with the visiting player spoken too, Ayton took the free-kick but keeper, Bransgrove rose to collect and launch the ball downfield. Play settled into a midfield battle dominated by Dunmow, so it was perhaps no surprise that they unlocked the home defence on twenty-four minutes, the pace of Garfinkle saw him drift wide before passing inside to MACK MISKIN who slotted home unchallenged. Again, FC Clacton Reserves tried to get forward, often over-elaborating their approach against no-nonsense defending, this time Baldwin found Antoniou-Garcia who showed some quick feet until Grimee-Yexley showed an even quicker pair to catch and dispossess the youngster. Maxwell was again spoken too after a heavy challenge on Baldwin and it was Maxwell who ran thirty yards with the ball before going close to scoring the fourth goal with a rasping drive that flew just wide.

With thirty minutes gone this game was a feisty affair, some strong challenges with players having plenty to say and when Grimee-Yexley was cautioned for a late challenge on Thompson, Maxwell spoke out of turn and received a ten minutes spell in the “sin-bin” to be completed just before the half-time break. In fact, on forty-three minutes Maxwell was replaced by Glynn who was denied a goal but a fine tackle by Campbell inside the six-yard box.

HALF-TIME: 0 – 3.

Straight from the restart Dunmow pushed deep into the home half, from a driven corner taken by Miskin, Thompson was back defending and heading clear, but the danger did not go away and Dunmow built a fast flowing “team” goal instigated by Piorkowski who had shown some excellent control and running in the first half, after a five man move it was MILOS VUKASINOVIC who scored number four. Home keeper, Burnby made a fine save in a one-on-one situation with the mercurial Piorkowski who never lost the ball for long, showing determination and strength to win it back and create new attacking moves through central midfield. On fifty-five minutes FC Clacton Reserves made a triple substitution bringing on Richardson, Law and Kangandu and the home team were now relying on keeper Burnby who made another fine save to deny Piorkowski.

On the hour mark Dolphin earned a corner, taken by Law, Baldwin was fractionally too short to get a proper head on the ball and Dunmow cleared at pace upfield to earn a corner themselves, taken by Miskin but headed wide by MacKenzie. On sixty-four minutes, goal number five, another sweeping move Garfinkle found Piorkowski who set up a simple tap in for MILOS VAKASINOVIC to complete his hat-trick. With twenty-minutes to play Dunmow replaced Garfinkle with Manager, Symons, Glynn and Campbell were spoken too after a hefty challenge then from the resultant free-kick Campbell made a great tackle to deny Glynn who was about to score from a few yards out. A free-kick taken by Law found the head of Thompson but the header lacked direction and power when flying wide, then the over exuberance of Campbell saw him cautioned for a flying and untimely challenge on Wallace, just on the half-way line.

Kangandu was injured tracking back to tackle with the game eventually stopped so the player could receive treatment and continue, then for Dunmow, Grimee-Yexley found Symons who won a corner off Baldwin then the hosts got to the other end where a corner from Law fell to Adams whose header bounced once before finding keeper, Bransgrove, a decent chance but there was no power in the header. The elusive Piorkowski, once again turned provider setting Grimee-Yexley away down the right side before passing to Vukasinovic whose shot across goal was turned into his own net by defender JAKE ADAMS and that was it, game over.

FULL TIME: 0 – 6.

This turned out to be a testing night for FC Clacton Reserves, the optimism and exuberance of youth and credit to them for not giving up, was over-run by the physicality and experience of the Dunmow Town FC players who clearly have all played at a higher level and will be a real force this season, a view shared by many of the hundred or so spectators who ventured to watch.

Now I always try to pick a Star Player, for FC Clacton their players all stuck to their task with keeper Burnby making numerous fines saves to deny the visitors more goals. For Dunmow this was big team effort, their experience shone trough and in PIORKOWSKI had a gem of a player, whom I know has played at a much higher level, that said he showed some excellent control, desire and vision throughout.

Teams:

FC CLACTON RESERVES FC: Colours: White Shirts, Blue Shorts and Blue Socks.

Grant Burnby., Joseph Campbell., Alex Forsythe., Jake Adams., Daniel Baldwin (C)., Jack Thurston., Quin Taylor., Thomas Ayton., Andreas Antoniou-Garcia., Harry Whitehead., Cameron Dolphin.

Manager: Lionel Toms.

Used Substitutes: Jake Richardson., James Law., Terence Kangandu.

Unused Substitutes: Lewis King., Liam Condon.

DUNMOW TOWN FC: Colours: Red Shirts, Red Shorts and Red Socks.

James Bransgrove., Charles Grimee-Yexley., Mack Miskin., Dean Wallace., Kirtys MacKenzie., Gus Douglas (C)., Ryan Maxwell., Joe Skeels., Milos Vukasinovic., Danny Garfinkle., Gabriel Piorkowski.

Acting Manager: Nicholas Symons

Used Substitutes: Lee Glynn., Nicholas Symons.

Unused Substitutes:

Referee: Stuart Hannam.

Assistant Referees: Rhys Collins.

And: Tony Vaughan.

Star Player: Gabriel PIORKOWSKI (DUNMOW TOWN FC)

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“COVID-19” “CORONAVIRUS”

THE “ESBFL” IS MINDFUL OF THE CONTINUING SERIOUSNESS OF THIS INFECTION, MATCHES CURRENTLY BEING PLAYED WERE ALLOWED TO PROCEED UNDER THE GUIDANCE GIVEN BY THE “FA”.

THIS SITUATION IS BEING CONSTANTLY MONITORED BY THE GOVERNMENT AND THE “FA” WHO CONTINUE TO PROVIDE REGULAR UPDATES DIRECTLY TO CLUBS AND THE LEAGUE. PLEASE ENSURE THESE ARE READ, UNDERSTOOD AND ADHERED TOO.

IT IS INCUMBENT ON ALL MEMBER CLUBS TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF VISITORS, THE FA HAS ISSUED NUMEROUS DIRECTIVES THEREFORE THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR IGNORANCE OF THESE GUIDELINES etc

ALL MEMBER CLUBS, ITS OFFICIALS, PLAYERS AND SUPPORTERS “MUST” ADHERE TO THESE GUIDELINES OTHERWISE THIS SEASON MAY ALSO BE CURTAILED EARLY.

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Additional Reporting:

YOU TUBE., FACEBOOK (x2) & TWITTER

Once again, this season the ESBFL is widening its match-day reporting coverage, in addition to a full report written by Brian Reed, our other roving reporter, Spencer Hume, has once again made himself known during the friendlies season and he will also attend games reporting via You Tube, Facebook and Twitter to communicate up-to-date information and replicate other match reports. In addition, John Campany, Vice Chairman will continue to provide a weekly summary, published in The Gazette.

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Reminder to Club Secretaries / Fixture Secretaries

Once again 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 advise any agreed changes, as required, to either Mick Willmore (mjw1947@sky.com)

or M/s Alison Stanford (esblsec@icloud.com) especially for evening games and for those matches being played under floodlights etc.

KO is 3:00pm from: September to October

KO is 2:00pm from: November, December & January

KO is 2:30pm during: 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 )

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ESBFL “web-site”

The web-site for the Essex & Suffolk Border Football League is: www.esblfootball.com