26/11/2022 – REPORT – Lawford Lads FC versus Dedham Old Boys FC
CHELMSFORD CITY RACECOURSE
ESSEX & SUFFOLK BORDER FOOTBALL LEAGUE
PREMIER DIVISION
LAWFOD LADS FC. 1. DEDHAM OLD BOYS FC. 2.
Date: Saturday 26th November 2022. Venue: School Lane, Lawford.
This week, another local derby, there has been friendly rivalry for many years between these two Premier Division Clubs, whose villages sit just a few miles apart so much so that there is an annual pre-season “charity match” played for the Chris Clark Trophy. Sadly Chris Clark, a life-long member and former Secretary of Dedham Old Boys FC, passed away recently, his funeral is being held, 11:25am, on Tuesday 29th November 2022 at Colchester Crematorium. Before kick-off here was an impeccable minute’s silence in recognition of Chris Clark and both teams sported black arm-bands throughout the match.
On an afternoon that was mild, but breezy, and on another excellent looking pitch, that has been heavily used already, this season, the match official was Neil Lawson who would be assisted by Andrew Harvey and Nathan Hallworth, a new young Assistant Referee, we hope he enjoys his experience in the ESBFL, a competitive and progressive football league.
Lawford Lads FC sat fifteenth in the division, bemoaning the fact that some players have decided to call it a day or are currently injured, however, they remain committed to bringing youth players through the Club. They have also had a recent change of management with Jay Welham and Ben Upton taking, the reins, and last week they lost to league leaders Dunmow Town FC by a solitary goal, ten minutes from time, squandering a late chance themselves of an equaliser. Dedham Old Boys FC, under the continued management of Luke Tuttlebee and Daniel Coote have kept a fairly regular squad of players and this season have Halsey and Welham back to bolster the midfield.
Lawford Lads FC kicked off, quickly losing possession which allowed Dedham Old Boys FC to create an attack and force an early corner, taken by Vallentyne with the ball being pushed wide by Humphries for a goal-kick, then followed a long throw-in from Ruffles which saw Mulenga head straight at home keeper, Long. A corner at the other end, taken by Abrahams, was destined for the far top corner, until keeper, Bentley pushed the ball away for another corner, taken by Robinson, whose cross from the initial clearance ran back to him and this cross was headed wide by North. On eleven minutes, the first goal, Peters gained possession through midfield, inside his own half, a precision ball forward found Mulenga who flicked the ball past Upton, with PETER MULENGA, winning the race for the ball to score a well taken goal. Peat fouled Abrahams but the free-kick was wide of the goal, Lawford were trying a long ball approach, but Ruffles, Peat and Humphries dealt comfortably with any high ball. Moseley thought he had played in Mulenga, one-on-one with keeper, Long, only for the Assistant Referee’s flag to be correctly raised for off-side. Lawford countered with Abrahams driving a low shot towards keeper, Bentley but it was the visitors who had more of an attacking threat with Lawford finding it hard to retain possession of the ball.
A cross from the left-side from Robinson was headed back to his keeper, Bentley by Welham who was popping up in positions both forward and at the back, where his defensive instinct took over. A free-kick from Wrycraft from the half-way line fell at the feet of Powell but a goal-kick followed, then a cross from Robinson was headed powerfully away by Peat. Mansfield, unintentionally, raised a high foot towards the head of Welham, the ball was there, fortunately, no contact, Mansfield protested his innocence to a point where a ten-minute spell in the sin-bin was threatened by the on-the-spot match official. Halsey got back to help his defence when Abrahams threatened, then as the ball was cleared, Upton went in hard to a tackle on Welham to earn the first caution of the match. Hayes fouled Abrahams, the free-kick was cleared but Ruffles and Hayes then challenged for the same ball which allowed Robinson to scamper away towards goal only for Humphries race across to make a fine tackle on Brazitis, excellent defending.
Moseley brought the ball out of defence, crossing the half-way line to be chased by Upton who pulled up with what looked like a hamstring injury, he was replaced by Perry who would certainly add some height to the Lawford defence, with Wrycraft taking the captains armband. Dedham pushed forward again, starting with Ruffles, to Hayes then onto Moseley who flicked the ball onto keeper, Long and Dedham continued to build attacks out of defence but they needed another goal to settle any management nerves. Just before half-time, Moseley, in a forward position, dribbled in and out, rolling back the years perhaps, before toe-poking the ball just wide and the last action of the first half saw Hayes use his pace down the right side with his intended cross flying behind the, goal.
HALF-TIME: 0 – 1.
Dedham restarted the match, no changes in personnel from either side, Peat and Moseley linked up, the ball fell to Welham, who passed to Halsey who set up Mulenga who shot wide, good move that. Welham fouled Mansfield on the half-way line, Mansfield fouled Halsey and from that free-kick Hayes raced away down the right-side finding Moseley running forward but keeper, Long was quickly out to smother the ball. Halsey, for Dedham, was now imposing himself more through midfield, finding space in which to work and from his low cross, Vallentyne shot straight at keeper, Long, then Mulenga was spoken too for a poor challenge on Anderson. Moseley set up Welham who shot well over the goal but Dedham were still in the ascendency but could not create that second goal.
On sixty-two minutes Dedham replaced Mulenga with Forsythe whilst Lawford pushed Parkes and Rayner into the fray with Anderson and Powell taking a rest and from the restart Brazitis, for Lawford, sent in a cross, headed out for a corner by Ruffles. Abrahams took the corner playing the ball into the near post area where Mansfield stabbed the ball out for a goal-kick, Halsey and Welham pushed forward the latter player sending in a low cross that Moseley was inches short of reaching with Wrycraft sweeping up at the back. Moseley, for Dedham was replaced by Akpiama on sixty-eight minutes then a moment of discussion, home keeper, Long, called for the ball, Vallentyne stepped in front of the keeper, only to be flattened, a shout for a penalty went up, nothing doing according to the referee who had a good view, so it is all about timing then, and play continued. With twenty minutes remaining, visiting keeper, Bentley, had been a virtual spectator this half, then a shot from Ruffles hit Perry, the ball falling to Forsythe who was actually standing off-side, soon after Welham blotted his performance with a hard challenge on Wrycraft, a caution duly followed.
With fifteen minutes remaining another double substitution by Lawford, replacing Mansfield and Abrahams with Lonergan and Foakes, now whether that unsettled the home team we will never know, but a hurried clearance out of defence saw the ball bobble towards HENRY WELHAM who looked up before he expertly lobbed the ball into the back of the net from outside the penalty area. Defender, Humphries, was spoken too at length for an off the ground challenge against Parkes, wide on the left side, with Humphries heading the resulting free-kickout for a corner. From the corner, a free-kick followed taken by Calladine, Robinson stole in, to head goal wards, Peat, at the far post, attempted to clear the ball, which clearly hit his arm, you know, that arm that is in an un-natural position, the referee had allowed play to continue until being alerted to the Assistant Referee’s flag being waved and a penalty was awarded. ROSS BRAZITIS took the spot kick and beat keeper, Bentley who had dived the right way, but was beaten by the pace of the ball. On eighty-three minutes Dedham made their third change bringing on Baker for Hayes, with a cross from Parkes being clutched out of the air by keeper, Bentley, then a chase forward by Vallentyne saw him clatter North. Welham got stuck into another challenge, getting the ball away to Halsey who was fouled himself, he got up to take the free-kick but Lawford hoping for a late equaliser broke forward only for Brazitis to shoot straight at keeper, Bentley.
FULL TIME: 1 – 2.
A credible victory for Dedham Old Boys FC, that’s two in a row now and it eased any thoughts of relegation which remains a prospect for Lawford Lads FC who have free-falling White Notley FC, Harwich and Parkeston FC Reserves and strangely, West Bergholt FC for company in the bottom four. The game was played in a good spirit, there were few moments of dissent, it may have lacked a bit of flair but two well taken goals by the visitors and a late penalty for Lawford set up a frantic ten minutes, too little too late perhaps!
Finally, turning to my “Star Player” choice, for Lawford Lads FC, Wrycraft tried to keep his defence in check, alongside firstly, Upton and then Perry, Mansfield and Abrahams tried hard through midfield whilst Brazitis worked tirelessly being rewarded with the spot kick, goal. For Dedham Old Boys FC, a team effort, no frills, just hard work and application, defensively Ruffles, Humphries and Peat looked comfortable, upfront Vallentyne and Mulenga caused problems by their direct running, the latter the scorer of a well worked goal. It was the midfield engine room that gave the visitors the platform to attack, Moseley, Hayes and Peters worked hard but in Welham and captain Halsey they had two experienced players who took the game forward with purpose, the latter just getting my vote by virtue of his overall commitment and encouragement to his players.
Teams:
LAWFORD LADS FC:
Colours: Sky Blue & White striped Shirts, Navy Socks & Navy Socks.
Team:
Jake Long., James North., James Calladine., Sean Anderson., Ben Upton (C)., Adam Wrycraft., Luke Powell., Adam Mansfield., Ross Brazitis., Ethan Abrahams., Harvey Robinson.
Management: Jay Welham and Ben Upton.
Used Substitutes: Harry Parkes., Dylan Lonergan., Chris Rayner., Harry Foakes., Sam Perry.
DEDHAM OLD BOYS FC.
Colours: Red Shirts, Black Shorts and Black Socks.
Team:
Ryan Bentley., James Ruffles., Liam Peters., Scott Humphries., John-Joseph Peat., Henry Welham., Tristan Moseley., Matthew Halsey., Peter Mulenga., George Vallentyne., Alex Hayes.
Manager: Luke Tuttlebee.
Assistant Manager: Daniel Coote.
Used Substitutes: Max Baker., Owen Akpiama., Alex Forsythe.
Unused Substitute: Tom Jenkinson.
Referee: Neil Lawson.
Assistant Referees: Andrew Harvey and Nathan Hallworth.
Star Player: Matthew HALSEY (DEDHAM OLD BOYS FC)
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
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.
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