Brentwood Town 1-4  Kingstonian

East Thurrock United 1-3  Bury Town

Clapton  1-1  Southend Manor

—————

FULL TIME:  Oh, what fun it was too.  A bad night for our sides, sadly, but at least the fireworks at the Old Spotted Dog was spectacular.

Until the weekend (we are still unsure as to what featured live there will be then) enjoy yourselves, and your football.

—————

90th min – GOAL! ….. CLAPTON 1,  Southend Manor 1 I don’t believe this.  Sixtth live game on the trot with a last minute equaliser!

Great stuff Clapton.

85th min – Time is ticking away for Clapton to stop my colleague losing run of 29 years (with the odd draw – and believe me, in the ESL, they are all odd).  The game has been poor, but the fireworks and singing has been a bit of a chortle.  Great to be here tonight.

80th min – Yet another player being treated.  Elsewhere, Concord are beating Takeley 8-1 in the Essex Senior Cup.  Jason Hallett has netted seven of the hosts eight goals.  After Takeley took the lead too.  Crumbs.

75th min – Turns out it was Southend Manor’s token Sunderland fan, Chris Baddeley, that whacked the Manor goal in.  The scoreline is getting more depressing at Rookery Hill.  Ah well.  At least the fireworks here are good.

71st min – GOAL! ….. Clapton 0,  SOUTHEND MANOR 1 Good grief, what a goal.  What a pity I didn’t see it.

Liquid football.  Apparently.

65th min – Manor have got on top, creating chances, forcing corners.  Who cares, though?  We’re fearing for our lives with these continual explosions around us.

Plenty of time for a goal though.

60th min – Ooh, Chris Baddeley of  Southend Manor is lucky not to see yellow at least for what looked to be a studs up tackle.  Elsewhere, Braintree trail 2-0 to Tranmere in the FA Cup and now East Thurrock have fallen behind.  Bah.

55th min – The So Solid Crew appear to have become Clapton fans, judging by all their drum’n’bass chants.  Meanwhile, smoke envelopes us and there’s the constant sound of explosives going off.  Just like a normal evening out at Bas Vegas.  There may have been a handball inside the Manor area but nobody could see.

50th min – Bah.  Bury Town draw level at Rookery Hill.  Someone’s just asked what Clapton’s nickname was, amongst all the firecrackers and occasional outbreaks of a football match.  “Down the tubes” was the laconic reply.  Chortle.

8.50pm – Kick off! Oh yes.

—————

HALF TIME:  And, as the fireworks start to land on the pitch, one way or another, it was great fun here at the Old Spotted Dog.  Manor should be down to 10 men, no doubt about that.  Even so, Clapton have been better even at 11 v 11.  Great news for East Thurrock, but as for Brentwood, ahem …..

Right, I’m off for a Bovril and a banger.  Laters.

—————

45th min – Some liquid football from Clapton.  Manor keeper Adam Seal is forced into superbly parrying a fierce 25 yard shot for a corner.  From that comes another shot which just evades the top left hand corner of the net.

40th min – “Come on Ashley Cole” shouts one of the home supporters to their injured full back.  Well, he might be actually sending a voicemail message on vibrate mode to someone, but it’s doubtful.  Vision is seriously impaired by the fireworks, meanwhile.  Not too sure if we’re in East London or East Beirut at the moment.

35th min – Elsewhere, for Essex sides, Braintree trail Tranmere in the FA Cup, and Chelmsford are level 1-1 with Dover in the FA Trophy.  Here at the Old Spotted Dog, it’s still the hosts having slightly the better of it.

31st min – Hurrah, a bit of cheer at last, as Sam Collins gives the Rocks the lead.  A delay here as a Clapton player is treated.  At least I think so.  Difficult to tell in all the smoke.

25th min – Lots of handbags after a Southend Manor forward kicks out at a Clapton defender while he’s lying on the floor.

Incredibly he gets only a yellow, whilst the Clapton goalie gets a yellow for dissent.

22nd min – Gloomier by the minute at the Arena.  Only International Rescue can save Brentwood now.

17th min – Ooh, a speculative Clapton shot from just over 20 yards goes just outside the right hand post.  Could the 29 year hoodoo be broken?  My colleague here is starting to shake.  But that’s more to do with the bangers going off.

12th min – As soon as I say that, word reaches me that Brentwood have fallen a goal behind at the Arena.  Now that’s just not playing the game.

10th min – No news yet of any goals at Brentwood or East Thurrock.  Or anywhere for that matter.  Clapton have started the better here.  There’s loads of fireworks going off around us.  Apparently it’s Divali tonight.  I think the wailing siren sounds, though, indicates it’s something other than fireworks.  Ulp.

5th min – Bit of early Clapton pressure, a corner that came to nothing and shot that was deflected wide.  Manor just tried to play through the centre but had as much success as Helen Flanagan.

7.48pm – KICK OFF! Oh …

—————

7.45pm – The teams come out to a small but enthusiastic crowd.

7.40pm – For the unitiated, Clapton and Southend Manor are languishing in the lower reaches of the Essex Senior League.  There is, of course, no ESL sides in the Brentwood or Billericay areas, but so many players at Ryman League and Conference level come through this league.  And Clapton is almost in our area.

The ground isn’t the grandest, and I remember the afternoon where ‘H’ was asked to bring his gun after one such game.  Great fun.

7.35pm – A very good evening from the Old Spotted Dog, home of London’s oldest senior football club, Clapton, for a trip out of the ordinary.  Something which is in danger of becoming the norm, though, bearing in mind the continual dramatic finishes recently.

Brentwood Town are having their moment in the sun presently.  A home clash with Colchester United waiting in the wings in the Essex Senior Cup, if they can finish off the job tonight against Kingstonian, a mouth watering FA Trophy clash at home to Conference high flyers Dartford will be theirs.

Meanwhile, East Thurrock United will be busting a gut to get one over Bury Town in the Ryman Premier tonight at Rookery Hill.  Feelings are still a bit raw from last season’s League Cup Final, when the Rocks were lucky to lose only by 1-0.  Revenge is the dish they want to serve this cold evening.

Alas, other commitments elsewhere mean I wouldn’t make either game until well after kick-off.  Instead, though, a bit of one of those odd little quirks that make life fun.  Tonight’s summariser with me hasn’t seen Clapton, the team his late father played for, win for a staggering 29 years.  For one person at least, it could be a bit of history.

One way or another, this could be one hell of a night at the football.

As ever, keep refreshing the page every few minutes, and a night of fulsome footballing fun will be yours.

GAME ON!