19/11/2016 – Report – Gas Recreation FC versus West Bergholt FC (EPC-R3)
BBC ESSEX SATURDAY PREMIER CUP ROUND THREE
GAS RECREATION FC: 1.
WEST BERGHOLT FC: 3.
Date: Saturday 19th November 2016. Venue: Bromley Road, Colchester.
Apologies for no match report last Saturday but the day before I had an unexpected invitation to go and watch England play South Africa at Twickenham, a much improved venue from when I last visited in early 1969! Well what is different about Rugby Union other than the obvious shape of the ball and the number of players participating, but the way players accept and respect any decision immediately, without question and retreat accordingly. Such a refreshing change to what us football lovers witness week-in, week-out not just in local football but in the professional game whose players really ought to set an example equal to that of the less well-paid rugby players.
The match official for this BBC Essex Premier Cup, Round Three match was recently promoted, Jack Willmore who at the agreement of the clubs involved would be assisted by Adrian Arnot and David Byrne and where the winners would ensure an ESBFL Representative team in Round Four. The players were led out from the clubhouse to observe the “respect handshake” and then they stood in silence for one minute in memory of Jack Atkinson, the young Holland FC player who sadly passed away the previous weekend after playing the game he loved.
With house building plans expected to be approved for Bromley Road “The Gas” have recently had to move the pitch further away from the clubhouse but the playing surface remains in excellent condition so on a bright, sunny, but cold afternoon this game kicked off at the earlier time of one-thirty. Gas had won all their games this season with the exception of the previous Saturday when Little Oakley FC inflicted a first league defeat whereas West Bergholt FC have, by their own standards had an indifferent start to the campaign and like today’s hosts had a couple of regular players unavailable.
Gas Recreation kicked off and Hooper, in clearing an attack, sent a long high ball downfield which bounced once on the edge of the penalty area towards keeper Bethell (L) who jumped to catch the ball where Marangou challenged, but after colliding with the air-born keeper he landed with a bloody nose requiring treatment off the pitch before he would be allowed to continue. Bulmer chased down another attack with Bethell (L) reaching the ball first but the visitors seemed rather lackadaisical in defence where Manager White was making a rare appearance alongside skipper Springett. Marangou rejoined the match on five minutes when West Bergholt won a corner, taken by Bethell but cleared by Girling to White who fouled Firkens just as he was about to run clear. In a local derby match of this significance, the tackles were always going to be hard and Marangou fouled Reddick then a free-kick from Craig flew straight to Bethell (L) but after ten minutes, no goals but plenty of action through midfield. Marangou and Springett had a verbal spat and referee, Willmore spoke to both players after which Bethell (J) and Webb worked the ball wide to the left side where the cross from Bethell (J) was gathered safely by Ringe whilst a free-kick taken by Marangou found the head of Craig but the header fell into the arms of Bethell (L).
On fifteen minutes a break by Bethell (J) saw his cross attacked by Spires and Girling who clashed heads, requiring treatment, both fortunately returning with the latter player showing a liberal application of Vaseline to his gashed head. On eighteen minutes Taylor swung in a cross for Craig to head onwards to Dale whose rasping shot-cum-cross hit the outstretched legs of Bethell (L) falling to Taylor who had little time to react before Springett cleared from inside the six-yard box, certainly an early let-off for the visitors. Harrington received a needless caution for not retreating ten yards when already on a warning and Taylor worked a corner kick off White, despite appearing to have fouled Hammerton in the process. Bethell (L) made an excellent save to deny Marangou from a cross by Taylor and the game remained fairly even as we passed the half-hour mark. A long ball from Reddick towards Spires was dealt comfortably with by Murray but as Gas attacked Taylor lost out to a challenge by Reddick and when chasing to recover the ball dived into another challenge, unfortunately by challenging with both feet and his body off the ground this is deemed to be serious foul-play / out of control, and Taylor received a straight red card, a situation which may determine the eventual outcome of this cup-tie.
Springett played the free-kick forward diagonally to Bethell (J) who passed to Spires who laid the ball back to Bethell (J) who side-footed wide of the goal and the visitors seemed buoyed by the numerical player advantage. A deep cross from the industrious Marangou clipped the back of the cross-bar and from the restart Hammerton found Spires running through only to be checked unfairly on the edge of the penalty area by Hooper who earned a caution. From the free-kick taken by Springett the ball was punched clear by Ringe to Bethell (J) whose first time cross was headed home by Gildea only to be ruled out for off-side by the Assistant Referees flag due to Gildea being behind the keeper whose momentum had taken him past a last defender, so close to a goal but the right decision after which Gregory and Reddick had a few words to say to each other!
HALF-TIME: 0 – 0
West Bergholt restarted the second half but Gas were positive with Craig and Dale pushing forward then Bethell (J) found Harrington but Murray was alert and cleared the danger with a timely challenge to concede a corner. Five minutes into the second half and West Bergholt were awarded a penalty kick when Gregory clearly fouled Harrington inside the penalty area, up-stepped Reddick only for Ringe to dive to his left and save and when Reddick followed up he fouled the keeper who had recovered to gather the loose ball. At the other end Bethell (L) played a short goal-kick towards Davidson who promptly lost possession to Bulmer but Bethell (L) saved their blushes when saving Bulmer’s effort with his feet conceding a corner. From the corner Craig was backing into Bethell (L) as he punched clear aided by a clearance up-field by Springett. Craig skated away down the right wing before cutting inside where Springett read the bounce of the ball well to intercept and clear. Bulmer went on a run to shoot left-footed but wide from outside the penalty area and Gas were proving to be a stubborn team with West Bergholt defending well from all angles.
It had taken until the hour mark to witness a legitimate goal and it came when Bethell (J) ran down the left wing before crossing into the penalty area where the unmarked CALLUM GILDEA guided home a header for a fine goal from one of the best moves of the game so far but this game was far from over. Murrells replaced the tiring Davidson and Bethell (L) saved at the feet of Dale, from a header by Hooper, this from a free-kick taken by Craig and Gas replaced Gregory and Bulmer with Ayton and Page. A poor first challenge by Murrells on Gregory led to a warning but the free-kick taken by Craig was caught easily by Bethell (L) and from his long downfield clearance Hooper was guilty of a poor challenge on Gildea and was perhaps fortunate not to receive a second yellow card.
On seventy-five minutes Gas replaced Firkens with Eggerichs whilst Spires was also substituted with Bethell (B) entering the game, with Bethell (J) setting up Gildea whose shot cleared the cross-bar and Murrells crashing into Page to earn his caution. From the free-kick taken by Craig the ball was only parried by Bethell (L) and when Hammerton missed his attempted clearance the ball fell invitingly to REIFE MARANGOU who steered the ball wide of all the players in front of him into the far bottom right corner and the equaliser which had always seemed likely to happen. White received a caution for up-ending Marangou to stop play and allow his team to get back defensively when Gas started another attack and with this equaliser maybe the visitors would rue their earlier missed chances which included that penalty! A corner from Craig was headed firmly goal-wards by Page but Bethell (L) excelled when saving low down to his left. Hammerton was needlessly cautioned for delaying the restart of the game at a throw-in and when Marangou picked up the ball his deep cross was met by the head of the unmarked Page whose header was expertly turned over the cross-bar by the agile Bethell (L).
With ten minutes remaining we witnessed a BOBBY BETHELL special, as when he picked up the ball on the half-way line from a Webb, Bethell (J) approach, he ran forward ten yards and sent in a cross-cum-shot that cleared everyone including the back-pedalling keeper who heard the ball strike the far upright and nestle in the corner of the net. Craig was fouled just a yard outside the penalty area by Springett who then had a verbal exchange with Page who appeared to have fouled him with both players being spoken too by the on-the-spot referee. As the game drifted to its conclusion we had time for one more goal when a run and cross by Bethell (B) was met by Gildea whose first time effort forced Ringe into a point blank save but CALLUM GILDEA reacted quickly to smash the loose ball high into the roof of the net and give West Bergholt a fine victory as the game finished soon afterwards.
FULL TIME: 1 – 3
The current form guide would probably have had Gas Recreation FC down for a home win but games against West Bergholt FC tend to bring the best or worst out of players, keenly fought it definitely was, a missed penalty, a disallowed goal, controversial incidents of course but competently dealt with, and several goals to savour in a match that never had a obvious conclusion, until the visitors scored that late third goal. Interestingly, the teams are scheduled to meet again in the ESBFL Premier Division on Saturday 3rd December 2016, again at Bromley Road, Colchester.
Last season the ESBFL had two teams reach the EPC semi-finals with one eventually losing in the final, this season the leagues hopes are now pinned firmly on West Bergholt FC who are the only team remaining after Little Oakley FC, White Notley FC bowed out on Saturday. In the next round, Round 4, West Bergholt FC will play away against Leigh Ramblers on Saturday 14th January 2017 the league wish them well.
As it was a cup match my Man of the Match selection will again be a player from either team, for Gas Recreation FC it goes to Reife Marangou, despite his early bloody / broken nose, back helping his defence one minute and always near the attacking action and getting into goal scoring opportunities, scoring one as well as his side battled on with just the ten players. For West Bergholt FC a couple of players stood out, keeper Bethell (L) made numerous decent saves, Bethell (J) was always prepared to run at a retreating defence and provide crosses to challenge for, Webb ran his heart out through midfield, not only to break up play when the Gas attacked but also getting forward to support and he should have scored himself in the first half but blazed over the cross-bar from six yards out. However, with two well taken goals, plus the disallowed goal, and some excellent defending and wing play my choice is Callum Gildea, not the biggest of players, but a constant thorn to the home team.
Teams:
GAS RECREATION FC: Colours: Red & Black Shirts, Black Shorts and Red Socks.
Elliot Ringe., Ryan Dale., Jack Murray., Jack Gregory., Scott Hooper., Ben Girling., Eldon Craig (C)., Luke Taylor., John Bulmer., Reife Marangou., Asten Firkens.
Manager: Simon Hayward.
Used Substitutes: Scott Page., Jay-Louis Eggerichs., Lewis Ayton.
Unused Substitutes: Jason Carter.
WEST BERGHOLT FC: Colours: Yellow Shirts, Black Shorts and Yellow Socks
Luke Bethell., Chay Hammerton., Connor Davidson., Anthony White., Liam Springett (C)., Stuart Reddick., Jake Bethell., Keiron Webb., Jack Harrington., Steven Spires., Callum Gildea.
Manager: Anthony White.
Used Substitutes: Bobby Bethell., Johnny Murrells.
Unused Substitutes: Sebastian Bethell.
Referee: Jack WILLMORE (Clacton-on-sea)
Assistant Referees: Adrian ARNOT (Colchester)
And David Byrne (Colchester)
Men of the Match: Reife MARANGOU (GAS RECREATION FC)
Callum GILDEA (WEST BERGHOLT FC)
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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: November, December & 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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