29/02/2020 – REPORT – Boxted Lodgers FC versus Cressing United FC

ESSEX & SUFFOLK BORDER FOOTBALL LEAGUE

DIVISION ONE.

BOXTED LODGERS FC: 3. CRESSING UNITED FC: 2.

Date: Saturday 29^th February 2020. Venue: Cage lane, Boxted.

Water, water everywhere, on Saturday, a total of twenty-four matches were postponed meaning only seven matches took place involving ESBFL teams, five of those were on 3G pitches with Bures United FC {2} playing on grass against Sudbury Sports FC {5} and the game I went too, this being fourteenth placed Boxted Lodgers FC versus fourth placed Cressing United FC at Cage Lane in Division One. At the start of play, Boxted Lodgers FC, Player / Manager, Paul Goddard was the Division One leading goal-scorer with twenty-five goals from twenty-two games whilst Daniel Miller for Cressing United FC sat in fourth place with twenty-two goals from nineteen games, lets see who can outscore the other today. It appears that the home team have now got a more settled team, judging by recent results whereas today Cressing United were a shadow of their normal playing strength, with half a dozen players missing at least.

I have to say the pitch was in excellent shape, no surface water and very firm underfoot, the game was however, spoiled by the strong breeze that blew across the pitch, in fact I can’t remember the last time a match was postponed there because of wet weather!

The appointed match official was young Ryan Kitchener, this is his first season with ESBFL, and he would be assisted by Club Assistants, all of whom made sound decisions to aid the man with the whistle.

Boxted Lodgers kicked off, Cressing United gained possession and threatened inside the home half however the home defence stood firm and cleared effectively to the other end where Goode conceded the first corner under pressure from Goddard. On five minutes Goddard ran through on to a ball played forward by Heard but keeper, Simmonds timed his advance perfectly to collect the ball off the leading scorers’ feet. Donnellan for Boxted dribbled forward going inside then outside his defender before pulling his shot wide but the home team took the lead on twelve minutes, an error by Gooday allowed a cross to come in from the right side and with the visitors defence hesitating, KEITH HAMMOND stole in to toe-end the ball over keeper, Simmonds from ten yards out. Cressing United pushed forward from the re-start with Carney pulling his shot wide from outside the penalty area then from the goal-kick, taken by keeper, Weir, Boxted worked the ball forward to Goddard who gave chase only to pull his shot across the face of the goal but wide for a goal-kick.

Boxted Lodgers belied their lowly league position with another attacking move, out of defence to Keeble who played Goddard through only for keeper, Simmonds to collect the ball just on the edge of his penalty area. Bloomfield fouled Miller mid-half and received a warning from the referee, Olding took the free-kick, sending in a fine cross towards the far post where Lavender headed clear. On twenty minutes Goode put in a hard challenge on Hammond and when the ball was played wide to the right side the eventual cross was flicked on by Keeble and turned into the net by Goddard who was rightly flagged off-side. Miller ran through the Boxted Lodgers defence only to be thwarted by the good positioning of keeper, Weir who saved at the feet of the forward with Lavender clearing up the loose ball. On twenty-five minutes Cressing won a corner on the far side, French played the ball into the six-yard box, Miller went down under a heavy challenge, play continued, the ball was not cleared properly, and LLOYD GOODAY swung his right foot to score through a crowded goalmouth from the edge of the penalty area. A break by Trussler for Boxted Lodgers saw him clear of defender Beadell, Stone held play up momentarily, but the ball again reached Trussler who laid it back into the path of PAUL GODDARD who smacked the ball home from a central position just outside the penalty area, a fine goal.

Cressing United continued to have a fair share of ball possession but could not break down a stubborn home defence led by Lavender and Bloomfield, Miller and French had shots charged down by these solid defenders. A corner taken by Miller was headed clear by Hammond, a left footed cross from Beadell was cleared by Bloomfield with Gooday volleying the loose ball wide. Home keeper, Weir saved from Miller, this after a defensive error by the same player whose initial shot was blocked. With five minutes to half-time Cressing United won a corner , Miller took the kick but keeper, Weir caught the ball at the near post to clear up-field where Hammond controlled then crossed to Trussler who headed over the cross-bar and in the last action of the half a free-kick taken by Trussler took one wicked bounce before striking the face of the tall keeper, Simmonds who was totally surprised by the bounce of the ball when standing just two yards off his goal-line.

HALF TIME: 2 – 1.

Cressing United started the second half proceedings and gained an early corner with Stafford heading straight at keeper Weir. The rain had briefly returned making the surface slippery, but both sets of players had adapted to the good playing conditions, excepting the wind of course! Meyer sent a long ball forward to Hammond and following decent control he laid the ball off to Goddard who fired over the cross-bar. An attempted break by Miller saw the player shackled by Lavender and from his pass up-field Goddard ran on, keeper, Simmonds advanced but was beaten by the goal-bound effort however Goode had run behind his keeper to head clear from the six-yard line, great defending. Assan took a smack in the face from the ball hit at close range and with blood flowing had to leave the pitch for some hasty repairs and a clean shirt. A corner for Cressing United was taken by French, Goode rose to try to head the ball but fell heavily, probably winded but recovered enough to continue. When Miller ran through on the home goal the flag was raised for off-side but a combination of keeper, Weir and defender Lavender saw his chance get deflected wide in any case. Just before the hour mark, a poor clearance from Goode fell to Heard who stroked the ball wide to Trussler whose low driven cross eluded everyone, and a goal-kick ensued.

This half had been largely scrappy with no pattern or rhythm to each team’s play, defences were definitely on top though! Goode fouled Hammond, Heard, took the free-kick finding Lavender with keeper, Simmonds collecting. Hammond returned the free-kick favour on Goode who looked like he was still struggling as more fouls followed. When Boxted Lodgers attacked again, Goode collapsed in a heap inside his own penalty area and required treatment off the pitch before returning to the action. Keeble dribbled the ball forward to gain a corner, taken by Trussler to Bloomfield whose shot was deflected for another corner, Trussler again took the corner with Assan heading clear for a throw-in. On sixty-seven minutes a long clearance from keeper, Simmonds found French whose progress looked to have been impeded by Lavender, no free-kick was given and play continued. At the other end Stone fouled Goddard with Trussler forcing a fine save from keeper, Simmonds. A cross from Carney found Olding and from his lay-off French should have scored from six yards out, his connection was not powerful enough and one bounce later, keeper, Weir gathered up the loose ball, chance gone. From the keeper’s clearance the ball landed deep on the right side of the Cressing United defence, Goddard drifted past Beadell and from his cross THOMAS DONNELLAN stooped low to head past the flat-footed keeper, chance taken, but poor defence by the visitors!

On seventy-three minutes Keeble was replaced by Payne for Boxted Lodgers with Cressing United replacing Goode with Thorndyke, Cressing broke forward with Olding setting up Miller who missed from six yards out then followed the only caution of the match, Bloomfield for Boxted Lodgers, the foul looked innocuous enough but was deemed sufficient to warrant a yellow card the only one of the match it was not that sort of match to be honest. Miller set up French for a shot which Lavender cleared, no messing in defence from him today, and the same player put in a telling challenge on Miller just when he thought he had cleared the last defender. Cressing United continued to press and had their most prolonged spell in possession, backed by some determined goal-keeping from Simmonds who saved twice at point-blank range before he rose from a challenge by Hammond to clear up-field. A break from French down he left side led to the ball being played into the feet of ROBERT OLDING who stroked he ball past the dive of keeper, Weir. Donnellan and Gooday were spoken too after a heavy challenge, hand-bags really, no further action was taken although Boxted Lodgers received the free-kick which was wasted, and the match ended with Cressing pushing forward but unable to get past some determined and legitimate defending from the home team.

FULL TIME: 3 – 2.

Not a classic game, both teams tried hard against the elements, five goals and another victory for Boxted Lodgers, that’s five games without defeat now as they try to claw their way out of trouble, they rose one place after this victory but only have seven matches left. Cressing United will rue having an understrength team for this match, they had chances, should have scored at one end but let the home team score immediately at the other end and that proved too much to overcome.

Now, for my Player-of-the-Match choice, for Cressing United, Goode defended stoutly throughout alongside Stone with Miller and Olding being the players where goals were expected to come from being denied by stout defending. For Boxted Lodgers, Hammond led the line well with top-scorer Goddard, it was midfield where the battle was won, Heard, Keeble, Donnellan and Trussler worked hard but defensively the home team worked tirelessly backed up by confidant goal-keeping from Weir, in that defence Norris and particularly Lavender stood out the latter being my choice this week.

Teams:

BOXTED LODGERS FC: Colours: Navy Blue Shirts, Navy Blue Shorts and Navy Blue, Socks.

Jens Weir., Elliot Heard., Elliot Mayer., Christopher Lavender (C)., Matthew Norris., Sam Bloomfield., Jack Keeble., Thomas Donnellan., Paul Goddard., Keith Hammond., Ryan Trussler.

Manager: Paul Goddard.

Used Substitutes: Toby Payne.

Unused Substitutes: Jack Percival., Djamel Ouhachi., Derek Keeble.

CRESSING UNITED FC: Colours: Yellow Shirts, Yellow Shorts and Yellow Socks.

Stephen Simmonds., Redmond Carney., Dan Beadell., Sean Goode., Darren Stone (C)., George Stafford., Wesley Assan., Lloyd Gooday., Daniel Miller., Robert Olding., Andrew French.

Manager: Ivan Gooday.

Used Substitutes: Luke Thorndyke

Referee: Ryan Kitchener.

Player of the Match: Christopher LAVENDER (BOXTED LODGERS FC)

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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 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 )

NOTICE TO CUP & TROPHY HOLDERS

Please note that all Cups & Trophies won by teams last season should have been returned to ESBFL before the end of February 2020.

These should be clean and should have been engraved accordingly.

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