Hopperational details | |
Date & Venue | Saturday 26 March 2011 at the Len Salmon Stadium (3pm) |
Result | Bowers & Pitsea 2 Takeley 3 |
Competition | Essex Senior League, step 5. |
Hopping | The second match of my day, taking place while Wales were playing England in Cardiff. The crowd of 47 is the club’s lowest of the season and about 33% down on their average. |
This match in one sentence | |
Takeley made the most of their excellent start to the match but were made to work for the win by the home side. | |
So what? | |
Bowers & Pitsea have only one home league win in the calendar year 2011, back in January, and they have two teams below them in the table. They still have to play bottom-placed Clapton once more and have been “concentrating on the league” since last October. Takeley are just below mid-table. | |
The drama unfolds | |
Takeley took the lead early on. Two shots were blocked in quick succession but the ball eventually dropped for Eubell, wearing 9, and he buried it. 0-1. A few minutes later, the home ‘keeper Bastin made a decent save but the ball came out to a Takeley forward, who buried it. 0-2. To be honest, I didn’t manage to identify the goalscorer from the other end of the pitch. I hope it was someone different and I haven't missed a hat-trick. The first two clips, one from each end of the ground, capture the general atmosphere. However, Bowers & Pitsea gradually got themselves back in the game and scored after 40 minutes through Richard Robinson to reduce the deficit. 1-2 at half-time. The home side came out with the momentum for the second half but it took an unusual goal to bring them level. A disputed direct freekick was scuffed low across the six-yard box by Craig Gillam, and perhaps distracted by inrushing attackers, the goalie Cookman somehow found it nestling in the corner of the net to mild surprise all round. 2-2. Having worked hard to draw level, Bowers & Pitsea then rather charitably handed the lead back to Takeley. Eubell seemed to have an age as he went through the middle, got the ball down, and finished. 2-3. The other two clips show the home sides search for the equaliser. A couple of times they went close, and sometimes more composure from #11 Charlie Kirby would have helped, but in the end Takeley held on comfortably enough for the win. Final score 2-3. | |
Alternative activity of equal excitement for tourists in Pitsea | |
Go and defuse a bomb in the Wat Tyler Country Park. This is one of the exhibits at the museum. The country park is on land that once had an ammunitions factory, and it now has multiple uses. In fact you could get married, study the molecular structure of nitroglycerin and learn about tower-block demolition on the same day. | |
A snippet from the programme | |
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Something random | |
I was approached by a supporter who wanted to say hello and shake my hand. As I must have looked bemused, he decided to clarify whether I was indeed the manager of Hullbridge Sports, and was rather disappointed when I was not. Apparently I am his double, so a trip to this Essex Senior League club will be needed sooner rather than later to check this out. Anyone got a pic? | |
What Next? | |
I shall look out for a chance to get to either FA Vase semi-final second leg next Saturday (at King’s Lynn or Whitley Bay, though I am not optimistic about getting a ticket), and in the meantime there will probably be a local midweek hop on Tuesday. | |
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