24/08/2016 – Report – Brantham Athletic FC Reserves versus Weeley Athletic FC
ANDREAS CARTER ESSEX & SUFFOLK BORDER FOOTBALL LEAGUE
PREMIER DIVISION.
BRANTHAM ATHLETIC FC RESERVES: 1.
WEELEY ATHLETIC FC: 2.
Date: Wednesday 24th August 2016. Venue: Brantham Leisure Centre.
A visit to Brantham was the order of the day, well the evening at least, to watch Brantham Athletic FC Reserves who have stepped down from the Thurlow Nunn, Reserve Division play newly promoted Weeley Athletic FC. The home team had successfully negotiated three matches thus far, winning all of them whereas the visitors had played just the one game, winning at Alresford Colne Rangers FC on the first Saturday of the season. A good test for both teams then but to be honest no Premier Division game should be easy albeit that a couple have so far ended with high scores but certain other Premier Division clubs have already accumulated almost half of what they achieved last season, so has a new trend been set!
On another warm evening the match officials for this Premier Division game were Simon Bird, Ricky Johnson and Connor Hodgkins, with this game being played under the Brantham Leisure Centre floodlights.
Brantham kicked-off up the slight slope with home defender Spencer and Nash clashing as early as the first minute with both players being spoken too. A long ball from Griffin was headed on by Nash with McLean just too quick of his marks to be caught off-side however play was waved on as keeper Whymark collected and cleared. On three minutes Weeley won a corner after a surging run down the left side by Davis with Davis taking the corner himself finding the head of Downes just outside the penalty area but the firm header was too high. Allington took a similar run down the Brantham left side beating Griffin and Findlay before crossing into the path of Gunn who scooped the ball over the cross-bar and already, inside four minutes, both teams had shown their attacking intent. Brantham got their first corner when Heffer was forced to defend but when Heffer headed clear and chased forward he collided with Allington twenty-five yards from goal, Lorimer took the free-kick with Davis clearing.
With ten minutes played, Davis embarked on another run forward crossing to Heffer with his first-time shot fizzing wide of the goal but much better form the visitors who had started to settle down, Brantham still pressed forward trying to involve the pace of Allington on the left side but both defences looked comfortable. Fifteen minutes into the game and Weeley took the lead, a free-kick awarded for a foul on Nash was played forward to the penalty spot by Payne and captain STEVEN DOWNES rose to send a towering header past the home keeper. New signing Harms was injured in a tackle with Candy deep in the Brantham half to receive treatment before carrying on and Heffer was warned about his challenge on Lorimer who always had something to say about those situations! A long clearance from Heffer was headed on by Nash and once again McLean gave chase, no off-side flag came, with Mclean brought to ground by Crowhurst just inside the penalty area, nothing given though. Another long ball by Griffin set McLean away and when cutting inside he placed the ball wide of the advancing keeper as well as the far post, these chances need to be taken as a single goal lead was not really enough!
After a patient build-up a long ball out of defence by Findlay saw Harms, scampering away only to be tackled seemingly unfairly by Young, the game continued with Brantham in possession but clearly Harms could take no further part and was lifted off the pitch with Rawlinson taking his place on the wide left and Davis dropping into central midfield. Heffer put in a robust challenge on Gunn and Griffin was tested by the pace of Allington, this after twenty-eight minutes, in fact I thought there should have been a corner to Brantham rather than a goal-kick! Lorimer managed to get the better of Downes in an aerial dual and with the ball sprayed out to Gunn, Freeman had to make a smart save diving to his right. Freeman was again in action minutes later advancing way out of his area to close down Lorimer whose attempted lob drifted harmlessly past the far post and beyond. Findlay was adjudged, correctly, to have fouled Allington with the referee deliberating before issuing a caution perhaps with a bit of help from Lorimer! On forty minutes the persistence of McLean won a corner off Spencer, Payne took the corner kick which was cleared but Weeley kept up the pressure with Nash being fouled by Spencer, again Payne shaped to take the free-kick but Davis played the ball to Payne and back to Davis before the ball fell at the feet of McLean who fired a shot just wide of the crowded goal. As the half ended Gunn showed his pace and shooting ability but missed the target with Rawlinson on hand to clear up-field and force Spencer to concede a throw-in.
HALF-TIME: 0 – 1
Weeley re-started the second half, Nash dived into a challenge on Spencer to concede a free-kick with play moving forward to the Weeley end where Lorimer sent a powerful shot goalwards, Findlay, deflected the ball wide with Freeman saving the corner. At the clubhouse end Rawlinson got into the game with a run down the left side before cutting inside to shoot goalwards only to hit the heels of Nash standing in the way. A surging run by Griffin down the right side led to McLean setting up Nash but his shot was weak with Brantham trying what Weeley achieve by playing the ball out from the back. Some poor defending by the visitors almost led to Brantham getting an equaliser with a weak shot from Crowhurst being comfortably held by Freeman. Lorimer, a continual threat set Candy racing through only to shoot over the cross-bar and certainly after half-time Brantham had raised their game to create chances. A free-kick taken by Lorimer hit the Weeley defensive wall and defender Spencer was replaced by Wood and he had hardly any time to get into the game before Weeley scored again. Griffin picked the ball up inside his own half beating three players before laying the ball into the path of ROSS NASH who clinically accepted the chance by sweeping the ball past Whymark. Lorimer was cautioned for dissent and less than a minute later the match official had to call Brantham captain Lawler over when speaking once again to Lorimer with no further action taken.
On sixty-three minutes Brantham replaced Candy with new signing Foster and with Brantham winning a corner, keeper Freeman punched the ball clear but only to the feet of Lorimer who sent a fine shot goalwards only for Freeman to make an excellent save diving to his left probably the best chance for the home team so far. Weeley introduced East, to replace Payne with Wood being spoken too about his colourful but frustrated language when Parkes was caught yards off-side. Davis continued to dominate midfield, good use of the ball and strong in any challenge and from his pass Duffus fed Nash who was held up by Wood. Another hard hit shot from Lorimer saw Freeman save again with Davis heading clear at the near post from the resulting corner. On seventy minutes, up at the other end Nash ran through one-on-one with keeper, Whymark, who made a fine save at the feet of Nash and as play switched once again, Downes was forced to concede a corner from which JACK WOOD crashed the ball home after a poor defensive header fell at his feet on the edge of the penalty area.
Lorimer was still searching for a goal himself and his next chance was a chipped effort that flew wide whilst Weeley were being caught in too many off-side situations, that was until Davis burst through two challenges to set Nash away but he contrived to let the ball run away from him, good approach work though. Another long range shot from Lorimer, who else, cannoned off Findlay for a corner and Brantham perhaps sensed the chance of an equaliser. A foul by Rawlinson on Allington deep on the far left side almost led to an equaliser and Weeley replaced Griffin with King. With time running out, Nash was cautioned for kicking the ball away and in the last minute Wood thought he had scored again with a bullet like header only for keeper Freeman to get a hand on the ball to steer it onto the cross-bar and safety.
FULL TIME: 1 – 2
This was a decent game of football between two evenly matched teams, both teams felt they can play better, both tried to play attacking football and in fact probably cancelled each other out however Weeley emerged victors by two goals to one to continue their progress in the top division. For Brantham a first league defeat perhaps but many more victories will undoubtedly follow, just as for Weeley as they get used to the ESBFL Premier Division.
My Man-of-the-Match choice was going to be between home team players Lorimer and Lawler, dangerous in attack throughout but were both upstaged by Wood, a late substitute who scored the Brantham goal and who was denied by a fine save by Freeman, the Weeley keeper who tipping a fine header onto the cross-bar and also made other competent saves. However for me, Steven Davis of Weeley Athletic FC was my player of the match, starting wide left side midfield then switching to central midfield but generally giving a totally committed display of both defending and attacking football.
Teams:
BRANTHAM ATHLETIC FC RESERVES: Colours: Blue Shirts, Blue Shorts and Blue Socks.
Laurence Whymark., Thomas Crowhurst., Edward Nobbs., Robert Candy., Ben Spencer., Kevin Young., Samuel Gunn., Sean Lorimer., Harry Parkes., Kieran Lawler (C)., Ben Allington.
Manager: Andrew Young
Used Substitutes: Sam Foster., Jack Wood
Unused Substitutes: Samuel Perry
WEELEY ATHLETIC FC: Colours: Orange Shirts, Black Shorts and Back Socks.
Mitchell Freeman., Jimmy Griffin., Russell McLean., Steven Downes (C)., Daniel Findlay., Jamie Duffus., Mitchell Payne., Thomas Heffer., Ross Nash., Kalon Harms., Steven Davis..
Manager: Keiron Shelley
Assistant Manager: Richard Downes
Used Substitutes: Scott Rawlinson., Robert East., Lewis King
Unused Substitutes: James Watt., Jamie Brooker
Referee: Simon Bird (Wivenhoe)
Assistant Referees: Ricky Johnson (Colne Engaine)
and Connor Hodgkins (Colchester)
Man of the Match: Steven DAVIS (WEELEY ATHLETIC 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 3:00pm from: August to October
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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