19/11/2022 – REPORT – Brantham Athletic FC Reserves versus Harwich and Parkeston FC Reserves

CHELMSFORD CITY RACECOURSE

ESSEX & SUFFOLK BORDER FOOTBALL LEAGUE

PREMIER DIVISION

BRANTHAM ATHLETIC FC RESERVES.                           9.

HARWICH & PARKESTON FC RESERVES.                      0.

Date:               Saturday 19^th November 2022.        

Venue:             Brantham Leisure Centre, New Village, Brantham.

            A local derby, perhaps, two Reserves teams from Clubs in the Thurlow Nunn Football League, Brantham Athletic FC Reserves have maintained a youthful squad, as was their desire when they entered the competition many seasons ago whilst an equally youthful, Harwich & Parkeston FC Reserves have worked their way through the divisions and this season stepped up, late in the day, from Division One exchanging places with Little Oakley FC Reserves.

            On an afternoon that was mild, but damp, and on an excellent looking pitch, that has been heavily used this season, the match official was John Watson who would be assisted by Club Assistants.

            Fourth placed, Brantham kicked off up the slight slope, towards the Clubhouse end, sixteenth placed Harwich, hampered by a lack of goalkeeper replacements had called upon Rayment (J), who hadn’t played for four years and whose son, Rayment (O) was also playing out on the field! Webb committed the first foul of the game and was spoken too by the referee, Roots took the free-kick finding Stratton whose knock-on saw the ball go out for goal-kick. The visitors had started brightly looking for Kioussis, Good and Green to create from midfield and to Stratton for goals up front, Rayment (O) fouled Carr, then Stratton fouled Owen-Jones and from twenty-five yards Stern stroked the free-kick well over the goal. Green forced Eldridge into a hasty pass to Moss whose pass back to his keeper, Scrivener was equally under-hit, but the outcome was another goal-kick, from where Brantham worked the ball up the left side, Webb set Moss away, his left footed cross eluded everyone on the edge of the six-yard box but GEORGE LANG was on hand for the simplest of tap-in’s at the far post. Another run and cross from Moss saw keeper, Rayment (J) advance to gather the ball, but Harwich could not get going and when Chambers tried to shield the ball just inside his own penalty area he was clattered by Carpenter, whose received an early yellow card, might easily have been a red due to the exceptional force used! Chambers eventually recovered after treatment on and off the pitch, Roots lost out to a run by Moss who passed forward to Stern, but visiting keeper, Rayment (J) was quickly out of his penalty area to kick the ball out for a throw-in.

            Harwich countered, Murray hit a long ball forward, Ayling found Kioussis who drove across the pitch from the right side before shooting goal-wards, Eldridge blocked the shot and Roots sent in another shot that was deflected away for a corner. On twenty minutes, disaster, well I thought so, Moss for Brantham raced down the left side, his cross was excellent, keeper, Rayment (J) advanced to catch, completely missing the ball which hit defender MATT MURRAY, I think, and the ball bounced into the unguarded net. Kioussis showed he still has the skill to create problems, a fine run before stopping, a turn inside onto his favoured left foot, saw that shot blocked by Owen-Jones, the ball bouncing out to Good whose rising shot was superbly saved at full stretch by home keeper, Scrivener, thus far a spectator. Kioussis was again involved, running forward to head on a pass from Clarke, giving chase before chipping the ball over the advancing keeper who got a slight touch, the ball looped goal-wards before Carr made a goal-line clearance conceding a corner. Brantham had been the better team overall, using the ball more effectively and retaining possession through midfield with a view of keeping the ball and make Harwich work to recover it, Good and Kioussis did link up again, the latter playing a cross into the penalty area where keeper, Scrivener gathered comfortably.

            On thirty minutes, Rayment (O) upended Lang, the free-kick was cleared but only to the home team, a slick passing move followed and saw the ball reach ZACHARY ELSEIDY whose ran on the rifle the ball home, giving the keeper no chance to save. With this goal the wheels seemed to have come off the further efforts from Harwich, Stern ran in from the left side, a deflection took the ball away for a corner, taken by Lang finding Elseidy who blasted over the cross-bar. Clarke found Green whose cross bounced off Glen to his keeper, a needless tackle on the half-way line by Kioussis on Moss led to his caution, Stern then fouled Kioussis and was spoken too and Green set up a break forward for Kioussis but keeper, Scrivener was quickly out to gather the ball. Harwich put another decent move together, Murray found Chambers and when the ball reached Good, quick tackling from Glen saw the ball cleared, wide to the left side where Stern and Kioussis clashed, to receive a verbal rebuke from the referee. The last action of the half saw Brantham on the front foot, Lang on the left side found Elseidy who played in Stern whose cross drifted behind the goal.

HALF-TIME:    3 – 0.

            From the restart, now playing down the slope, Brantham forced a corner, taken by Stern and collected by keeper, Rayment (J) over the heads of all around him, a run by Chambers saw him cross to Stratton but Glen was on hand to defend, conceding a corner which was cleared. On fifty minutes, a goal, poor defending by Harwich saw the ball run loose and this allowed ZACHARY ELSEIDY to beat keeper, Rayment (J) with a rasping shot from outside the penalty area. Owen-Jones fouled Kioussis, who took the free-kick himself, hanging the ball up towards the far post, Carr conceded the corner, driven in by Kioussis and a glancing header from Murray flashed behind the goal. On fifty-six minutes Brantham made their first change replacing Owen-Jones with Beech, another defender, Chambers found Kioussis whose pass fell to Green, his shot was blocked, another corner, taken by Kioussis towards Good and another glancing header flew wide.

            On the hour mark, another substitution, Lang being replaced by Pryke, a former Harwich player, another goal followed, Carpenter, crossed and there was ZACHARY ELSEIDY to score, that’s his hat-trick and well deserved too. The response from Harwich came from Green whose shot was saved by keeper, Scrivener, Harwich then replaced Green with Bethell and Brantham took off Moss with Pratt entering the fray. The attacks from Brantham continued, Elseidy was denied by keeper, Rayment (J) who then denied Carpenter and then Stern, I reckoned that was inspired goalkeeping. Harwich replaced Clarke with Wallace on sixty-five minutes and three minutes later keeper, Rayment (J) again made a fine save from Elseidy. With twenty minutes to go Harwich made their final change replacing Good with Stanford who immediately set up a chance for Chambers but driven left-footed and wide.

            Fifteen minutes remained when Brantham scored goal number six, once again poor defending let in ALFIE ELDRIDGE who placed a left-footed effort across the far of the goal, keeper, Rayment, once again had little chance to save. Brantham substitute then picked up a loose ball on the right side, running forward into space he let fly, the ball hitting the underside of the crossbar bouncing down to then strike the left hand upright and be retrieved by the keeper. AIDAN CARPENTER added goal number seven with a fine shot, where was that Harwich defence, this game was now out of their reach and keeper, Rayment (J) made another fine save, again from Elseidy, is this game now a duel between these two players. Sadly, for Harwich the goals kept coming, ALEX PRYKE started a fine move on the right side before running through across the pitch at pace to score low into the corner of the net on the far side. Carpenter was put through for Brantham, keeper, Rayment (J) ran out and the lobbed ball drifted wide of the unguarded net. In the final minutes came goal number nine, Carpenter crossed and there was BENJAMIN PRATT to head home, that’s it, the final whistle sounded and relief for the overwhelmed visitors.

FULL TIME:     9 – 0.

            Despite the relative league positions, I did expect a closer match, the final result does reflect the overall superiority of Brantham Athletic FC Reserves, the Premier Division is a tough division, the experience gained by numerous young players on show on both sides will help them going forward, for Harwich and Parkeston FC Reserves the season continues to look challenging.

            Now, let’s turn to my “Star Player”, for Harwich, beaten by a better team, Green, Good and Kioussis tried through midfield, defensively they were overwhelmed but keeper Jamie Rayment deserves special mention for his performance, making many more telling saves than already credited for. For Brantham Athletic FC Reserves, a fine team performance and this type of result indicates that the fourth placed team mean business this season, they will give far better opposition a real test. Team Captain, Webb, hardly mention in this report but a strong influencer through midfield, he leads by example, likes to chat to the referee on behalf of his young team but did the hard defensive bits then got forward to support others. Glen and Owen-Jones rarely looked trouble in defence and in Carr and Moss had wing backs that liked to get forward. The midfield, Lang, Eldridge and Stern alongside Webb,  never stopped creating and providing chances and forwards Carpenter alongside Elseidy, my star player, in fine form they rarely looked troubled.

Teams:

BRANTHAM ATHLETIC FC RESEVES FC:      

Colours:                        Blue Shirts, Blue Socks & Blue Socks.

Team:

Jamie Scrivener., Oliver Carr., Shaun Webb (C)., Harry Glen., Tobias Owen-Jones., George Lang., Alfie Eldridge., Jack Moss., Aidan Carpenter., Zachary Elseidy., Aidan Stern.

Manager:                      Craig Clarke.

Used Substitutes:           Benjamin Pratt., Alex Pryke., Luke Beech.

Unused Substitutes:       Oliver Brown., Craig Clarke.

HARWICH & PARKESTON FC RESERVES

Colours:                        Black & White Shirts, Black Shorts and Black Socks.

Team:

Jamie Rayment., Daniel Roots (C)., Owen Rayment., Michael Murray., Tony Clarke., Harry Chambers., Kobe Ayling., Callum Green., Jacob Kioussis., Robert Good., Christopher Stratton.

Management:                Gavin Hewitt.

Used Substitutes:           Garry Stanford., Joe Bethell., Miles Wallace.

Unused Substitute:         Matt Elton

Referee:                        John Watson.

Star Player:                Zachery ELSEIDY                                (BRANTHAM ATHLETIC FC RESERVES)

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

November, December & January:                                   14:00pm

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.