29/01/2020 – REPORT – Stanway Rovers FC versus Wormingford Wanderers FC

ESSEX & SUFFOLK BORDER FOOTBALL LEAGUE

DIVISION ONE.

STANWAY ROVERS FC RESERVES: 8. WORMINGFORD WANDERERS FC: 0.

Date: Wednesday 29^th January 2020. Venue: The Hawthorns, Stanway.

Last evening, a floodlit, Division One, match at “The Hawthorns”, home of Stanway Rovers FC between their tenth placed Reserve team and rock-bottom, Wormingford Wanderers FC. Stanway Rovers FC Reserves have re-joined the ESBFL having spent many seasons in the Thurlow Nunn Football League, their facilities and perceived playing strength saw them elected last June to the ESBFL, Division One and on current results that decision seems vindicated. Tonight’s visitors are a different story, faced with a mass exodus of previously loyal players the club asked for and were given a demotion from the ESBFL Premier Division to Division One, their current league position also seems vindicated and but for, now having a similarly struggling Reserve Team in Division Two would probably have been more comfortable going down two divisions, hind-sight is great as they say!

A cold, damp evening and another soft grassy pitch, greeted those supporters from both teams with match official, Mariusz Burchan apparently being asked to hold the “Respect” handshake, well I never, but the League Rule is that “ALL” ESBFL matches hold this “Respect” handshake!

And so, to kick-off, Stanway got us underway playing towards the clubhouse, I must say that their team sheet looked strong with five starting players having played for their First Team last Saturday, this number is allowed within the rules and is probably expected as new players settle into the club or return from injury, but let’s move on from my observation! The ball was played back to Shaw who moved it on to Mills but the Wormingford defence shielded the ball back to keeper, King, Marsh fouled Sloots, for the first free-kick of the match and it was immediately apparent that the home team were fit, well drilled and wanted to win this match. To their credit Wormingford tried to play the ball out of defence, successfully till they reached the half-way line where things broke down and this was to be a pattern of play for the next eighty-five minutes. Nydam pushed the ball forward to Murray who was flagged off-side then Wheeler sent the ball long to Mills who forced a corner off Mullins, Nydam took the corner and JAMES CRISSELL nipped in, to head home from close range, with just five minutes gone. Worse followed on nine minutes, another corner from Nydam, this time from the other side, the deep cross was headed back into the six-yard box and there was JAMES CRISSELL to head home again, this time with the help of the left hand upright. The signs were already ominous, but the visitors did not give up on their passing out of defence strategy, probably their un-doing as Stanway easily picked-off the stray pass or gained possession from a weak tackle, players tending to stand off rather than getting stuck-in!

Wormingford got across the half-way line on about fifteen minutes and new signing Balaam set Tiffney away and having beaten two players across the edge of the penalty area he was stopped by Nydam with other defenders there in support. A fine dribble forward by Crissell from midfield put the visitors on the back-foot once again, this time, keeper King was quickly out to collect the ball on the edge of the penalty area. Mills, playing in a central attacking position was leading the line well and after beating two defenders could only manage a weak shot that dribbled wide, then Owusu-Boakye sent a dipping shot just over the crossbar. Keeper, King made a fine instinctive save from Crissell, diving to his left to push the ball away and be cleared, Tiffney fouled Nydam, who almost reacted, and from his free-kick firstly Mills, then Shaw were flagged off-side despite the save from the keeper. Defender, Owusu-Boakye picked up a poor clearance from Young but despite being in space he managed to drag his shot wide, then Murray got the ball into Mills whose lack of match practice probably was the reason for his weak shot that keeper, King gratefully collected.

On thirty-five minutes, the Stanway pressure was relentless, MIQUEL NYDAM toe-poked the ball home for goal number three, this when running through a crowded penalty area after Wormingford once again failed to clear the ball after no apparent danger and Nydam almost got the better of O’Hara in a chase for the forward ball. With five minutes to half-time the visitors were clearly struggling, Owusu-Boakye started a move from his own half, Murray joined in to set Mills running through but again keeper, King made a fine save pushing the ball wide to Murray who found the car park with a rising shot. Mills, for Stanway, had chased everything and given the visitors defence a hard time, Nydam was always a threat down the left side, and from one cross Crissell set up Sloots whose header was saved by keeper, King. A minute before the break and Stanway scored their fourth goal, Mills turned to shoot goal-wards, keeper King made a good initial save but could only parry the ball to JONAH MURRAY who slotted home from close range.

HALF TIME: 4 – 0.

Wormingford kicked-off the second half, the temperature had dropped but still plenty of movement on the pitch, basically one way, Mills turned to shoot straight at keeper, King but from his clearance MILO GRIMES picked up the ball near the half-way line, drove forward, no telling challenges came in which allowed him to shoot at goal from just outside the penalty area, keeper, King may have seen the ball late but he was beaten all ends up. Forty minutes to play and five goal to nil, down, time for some damage limitation perhaps from Wormingford, Stanway replaced Sloots with Whittle and a lengthy injury to Oughton saw him carried off to be replaced by Gatland. From a training pitch exercise Stanway scored again, Nydam signalled, by holding the ball above his head at a corner, the ball was played back to a position outside the penalty area from where the unmarked JAMES CRISSELL drove a twenty-five yarder past everyone into the back of the net thus completing his hat-trick. At this point Stanway replaced Mills and Murray with Mann and new signing Nwanaka.

On the hour mark, Wormingford mustered their first shot at goal, Gatland set up Balaam whose effort forced home keeper, Watson into his first save of the match, a corner followed, taken by Tiffney to Marsh whose header was wide of the goal. The seventh goal arrived on sixty-seven minutes, a forceful run into the penalty area by Nwanaka led to a scramble out of which JAMIE-JOEL NWANAKA managed to dig the ball out and score off the post. Balaam for Wormingford was replaced by Lockyear on seventy-two minutes but his team were still defending very deep, still trying to play the ball around and forward but getting into the Stanway half remained a problem, and on several occasions the home team had just their keeper and one defender in their own half!

Shaw made a foray forward to force a corner, Nydam took the corner, curling the ball into the far post area where JAMIE SHAW stood to head home, I say stood, as with no defender or keeper being present the goal was a gift. Tiffney for Wormingford set up Gatland whose strike was good, but the ball cleared the goal with ease, Stanway remained quicker to the ball and had more idea of how to use it. Reeves for Wormingford received a caution for an untimely challenge, there had been no dangerous tackles all game as the game had been played in good spirit. The best chance for Wormingford fell with five minutes remaining, Gatland headed the ball on to Reeves who with only the keeper to beat, rushed his shot and failed to trouble keeper, Watson, who had been a spectator for much of the evening.

FULL TIME: 8 – 0.

My apologies to the respective Managers, I normally try to meet them before kick-off but got side-tracked talking to footballing numerous people and then had to leave immediately after the match finished. This was not a spectacle of a match, the home team dominated from the start, were quicker, fitter and with more collective attacking ideas, their defence was rarely troubled, and goals came at regular intervals. You could say that this was a bad day at the office for Wormingford Wanderers FC, but they deserve a lot of credit for not capitulating, eight goals against looks a tough score-line but they stuck at it and were beaten by a much better team. Their seasons final league position looks ominous already, but these two teams are scheduled to meet again in two weeks-time, this time on a Saturday afternoon, at home, wherever that may be given the current state of their home pitch, jovial Club Secretary, Brian Jones was optimistic that things might change, the weatherman may think differently.

Now, for my Player-of-the-Match choice, Wormingford keeper, King made some decent saves but was clearly over-worked, the rest of his team did not give up and soldiered on to the end so credit to them. For Stanway several players stood out, Nydam with good running and delivery of crosses and corners and a goal, Murray, Owusu-Boakye through midfield set up numerous chances for Mills, a player returning from injury, but its hard not to nominate Crissell who with three goals and other good play, and who to me, stood out.

Teams:

STANWAY ROVERS FC RESERVES: Colours: Yellow Shirts, Black Shorts and Yellow Socks.

Harry Watson., Glenn Wheeler., Miquel Nydam., Ekow Owusu-Boakye., Milo Grimes., Jamie Shaw., Jonah Murray., James Crissell (C)., Darren Mills., Scott Sloots., Christian Walsh.

Manager: Luke Watts.

Used Substitutes: Benn Mann., Michael Whittle., James-Joel Nwanaka

Unused Substitutes: Franco Guidi., Max Sherlock.

WORMINGFORD WANDERERS FC: Colours: Blue Shirts, Blue Shorts and Blue Socks.

Jordan King., Blake O’Hara., James Reeve (C)., Kieran Young., Ben Mullins., Brandon Sage., Leo Tiffney., Charles Marsh., Konnor Oughton., Jack Balaam., Jake Dore.

Manager: Jake Heap

Used Substitutes: Calvin Lockyear., Jack Gatland.

Unused Substitutes: Jamie Thorburn., Robert Cashin

Referee: Mariusz Burchan.

Player of the Match: James CRISSELL (STANWAY ROVERS FC RESERVES)

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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 / 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 Alison Willmore ( mjw1947@sky.com ) especially for evening games and for those matches being played under floodlights etc.

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 )

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ESBFL “web-site”

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

Clubs are reminded that the following documents are all available on this website under Clubs / Documents etc:

ESBFL Handbook,

Player Registration Sheet,