Ryman League Division One North
Saturday 3rd February 2007
	Maldon Town	0 - 1	AFC Hornchurch
		H/T 0-0 Att: 171	S Parker 73'

Match Highlights

Opponents

AFC Hornchurch

	27	OFF - McFarlane ON - Bostock
	51	SENT OFF - Lee
	51	OFF - Tomlinson ON - Collins
	59	OFF - Fiddes ON - Foyewa
	60	BOOKED - Southon
Samson - BOOKED	62
	73	GOAL - S Parker
Lewis - OFF Parratt - ON	75
? - OFF Graves - ON	85
	86	BOOKED - Foyewa
Everitt - BOOKED	86
	86	BOOKED - Glozier
Shave - OFF Simms - ON	86

Match Report by Tony Middleton

This was it – the big one – the all Essex clash of the titans – Maldon, storming up the league, Urchins, clinging on to top spot – the referee was not only from Essex, his name was also Essex. By kick off time an estimated 250 were inside the ground, including a handful of home supporters. The large areas of grass banking looked invitingly green, and of course illegal in this league – the spiders webs which floated caressingly across the main stand glimmered in the sunshine, with the temperature approaching heat wave proportions.

A good start for Urchins, Tomlinson taking a ground pass from Kris Lee, cutting inside and hammering in a hard shot which was blocked by Everitt. But this proved to be one of the few goal scoring chances of the first half, which was largely played out in midfield, Maldon’s first sortie saw Sheridan slip the ball through to Lewis, with Ron Fletcher talking well to concede the first corner of the match. McFarlane dealt with the kick in the usual manner. Maldon had a shock when a lengthy upfield kick by Brightly forced Gould, in the other goal, to rush out to kick away as Lee homed in, whilst Paul Shave sent a good pass out to Sampson, whose centre was headed away by McFarlane. Then it was Lee, from Fiddes, and on to Parker, with Gould racing out of his area to kick clear, whilst at the other end Sheridan fired the ball across the face of the goal. Tomlinson took a free kick and Blackwell headed over his own crossbar, with Glozier taking a short corner, collecting the reverse pass from Janney and then curling the ball inches wide of the goal. A good build up involving Lee and Parker saw Janney then cross to Tomlinson, who touched the ball back to Glozier, his centre being well held by Gould, who was rapidly becoming a favourite with the East Side.

And then disaster for the Urchins as Jim McFarlane had to go off with a groin strain, but on came Jordan, with Ron Fletcher, John Purdie and Danny Glozier setting up a shall-not-pass zone, leaving Dale to handle what little got through. Fiddes out to Lee, and a good cross which Parker could not reach. Gould was in action again, picking out a good free kick from Glozier, and a scare when Ron Fletcher needed lengthy attention following a tackle which the referee did not penalise. Martin received from Perry but fired high into the leisure centre, and Shave came up to head wide from a corner. Fiddes to Parker, and a good run ended with a curving cross which dropped behind the goal. Sampson found Everitt and Glozier tackled well, playing the ball up to Southon, but Jamie’s shot went over. Glozier then made an excellent tackle on Perry but a free kick was awarded, the ball being driven hard into the wall. Almost on half time Janney was chopped down in full flight and Tomlinson’s free kick was headed away by Shave, with Absalon completing the clearance.

Half time, time to read the programme – only there was none to read, as none were produced, due to a printer fault. Attempts to find a home supporter to interview proved equally fruitless as none could be found, and the sun had sunk so low as to reach epidemic proportions. What a contrast when the teams came out – the home end, deserted but for the faithful fifteen, the away end packed almost to capacity.

Urchins stepped up a gear, Janney leading the way with a run in the sun on the right, placing the ball neatly in front of Parker, forcing Gould to race off his line to kick clear. Another Janney run, and Absalon conceded a corner. Tomlinson floated the ball over and Sampson headed out. And then the game changed, seemingly in favour of the home side. An innocuous tackle, the referee awarded a free kick to Urchins, and the linesman called him over – no need to really, as he was as close as the linesman – but after a lengthy discussion, he called Kris Lee over and waved the red card. Some confusion as to who it was waved at since Tomlinson left the pitch at the same time, Dave Collins coming on, with Lee still walking off. None of the East Side were able to throw any light onto what happened, and most of the possible explanations cannot be published anyway.

But it swung the game – Urchins way as the East Side at long last found their collective voice, and from then on there was a barrage of noise from behind the goal. Janney took a great pass from Bostock, raced away, but hit his shot wide of the goal, to set the scene for the forthcoming siege. With the noise already at a crescendo, it reached danger level when Collins was felled by a tackle that was so late it was unbelievable – a red card was the only possible verdict, and the referee walked over, reached for his card, and pulled out the yellow one instead – Sampson stayed on the pitch. Has Collins stayed on the ground, it would surely have been a different story, but he got up, took the free kick and Jamie Southon powered in to head inches wide.

On came Amos Foyewa, to send the away crowd into ecstatics, and it did not take long to Amos to stamp his authority on the match, sending a great through pass to Southon whose cross just eluded Parker. Glozier got in a hard tackle to stop Wareham’s run and did the same again shortly afterwards, this time conceding a corner which Brightly dealt with easily enough. But a goal just had to come, with the non stop siege showing no sign of abating. And what a goal, Amos making the running on the left, on and on he went, sidestepped Sampson, who possibly wished he had got a red card earlier with Amos proving impossible to mark, and Amos sent in a perfect ball for SIMON PARKER to poke home, Simon rushing to the swaying mass behind the goal, with the referee looking aghast as Simon briefly disappeared amid a sea of swirling arms and scarves.

It was all over now, or was it – Shave went upfield, mistimed his shot cum header and the ball was powered back upfield where Parker was just beaten to the ball by the impressive Gould. With Urchins totally in command, Janney went on a 60 yard run, into the box, and Sheridan made an excellent tackle to stop a certain goal, to concede a corner, and Collins sent in an inswinger, which Gould took under pressure. Amos was here there and everywhere, and Urchins looked like adding to their lead. A free kick just inside the home half ended in total farce when the referee whistled, stopped Glozier taking the kick, then pulled his notebook out. But appeared to then change his mind and tell him to take the free kick. Whilst this was going on there was an incident in the home penalty area, which the referee did not see as he was still looking at Glozier. The linesman raced over from the other side, and went into a long conversation with the referee, who slowly reached for his book, called Amos and Everitt over and then quickly waved the yellow card in a vigorous circle. Three minutes after this had all started it was time for the free kick, which Danny was still patiently waiting for the whistle to take the kick. The referee then walked up to Glozier and booked him.

At last, in it came, and Southon went close. Paul Shave went off, and the home defence was in disarray. In the five minutes added on, Janney made a magnificent run from deep inside his own area, cut into the penalty area, and forced Gould into the save of the match, the keeper somehow managing to keep the lobbed shot out of goal. But back again came the Urchins, Amos making the running on the left, and finding Parker, who swerved left and right and fired in a left foot shot which curled wide of the post.

So three points, 22 clean sheets, and 200 happy Urchins – but not happy with some of the decisions which threatened to ruin the match. And a mention for the home keeper Darren Gould, who took the time to come behind the goal and shake hands with the away supporters at the end of the match.

  Teams

Maldon Town  Darren Gould Alan Sampson Jack Absalon Frankie Everitt Ollie Blackwell (c) Paul Shave Steve Wareham Driver Sheridan Keith Martin Lee Perry Yohance Lewis SUBS Dean Parratt Danny Graves Alex Simms Harrison Teague -

- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 * 12 14 15 16 17

AFC Hornchurch Dale Brightly Ron Fletcher Danny Glozier John Purdie (c) Jim McFarlane Andy Tomlinson Alex Fiddes Mark Janney Kris Lee Simon Parker Jamie Southon SUBS Dave Sadler Amos Foyewa Ainsley Gasper Dave Collins Jordan Bostock

Man of the Match Nominated by ...

Weather Conditions:  Bright strong sunshine at start, 12 degrees, 5 degrees at finish. Wind speed 5mph rising to 10mph in second half

Match Officials: Simon Essex with M Smith and Ian Hogg
 

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