East Thurrock United 2-2 Bury Town
Harrow Borough 1-1 Billericay Town
Maldon & Tiptree 3-1 Brentwood Town
Dagenham & Redbridge 2-0 York City
Hartlepool United 0-1 Southend United
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FULL TIME: And the curtain comes down on an absolute cracker of a game. A youthful Rocks side, slung together at the last minute, put up a superb effort, against one of the genuine title favourites, and could easily have won it at the death. Liquid football.
Next up is the Rocks derby game at Billericay Town on Tuesday. Until then, enjoy the weekend, and your football.
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Injury time – 5th minute – Ohhhhhh! After the earlier corner was only half cleared, a shot comes in, resulting in another Rocks corner at the Bus Stops End goal on the left. From that, Menga has a free header at the far post, but it goes agonisingly wide.
Injury time – 3rd minute – Everyone falls asleep at a visiting substitution. Except for that man Bryant. A stinging shot is parried away for a corner.
Injury time – 1st minute – And a Bury Town free kick, from 22 yards, goes just wide of the left hand post. Five minutes of it here.
90th min – David Bryant has, in managerial parlance, worked his socks off, running, hassling, cajoling, and scoring, but that was one punt too long to go for. The mind was willing, but the legs just couldn’t do it. Tremendous effort.
87th min – Bury’s Nathan Taylor also goes into the book for a crude hack on the left on the impressive Tom Stephen.
85th min – Now Steve Sheehan sees yellow for separating Seb Dunbar from the path of the ball. He tries to protest his innocence but laughing has he does so makes it less than effective. Chortle.
80th min – A long delay while a bit of handbags breaks out after David Bryant is flattened on the edge of the area. Bury Town’s Seb Dunbar gets a sneaky punch in on Bryant in the aftermath, too, which isn’t seen by either ref or lino, so both get a yellow. The free kick, inevitably, comes to nothing.
73rd min – GOALLL!!! ….. East Thurrock United 2, BURY TOWN 2 It’s been coming, I guess. A corner on the right, scramble inside the six yard box, and ADAM BAILEY-DENNIS bundles home.
Only one winner here now. Meanwhile Lheureux Menga replaces Mitchell Gilbey for East Thurrock United.
71st min – A bit of respite. Some lovely build-up play down the right flank, Mitchell Gilbey beats the offside trap, but he is tackled just as he’s about to pull the trigger. The Rocks are running themselves into the ground here, giving their all. Whatever happens, a superb home effort.
66th min – Pretty much one way traffic – as we feared it might be from the start. Seb Dunbar has put over the bar a glorious chance to equalise, in a central position, unmarked, from about 10 yards out. Squeaky bottom time.
61st min – This is the part of the game I like. Players and supporters getting tense so shouting angrily and the ref and lino about any perceived slight for their team. Lots of chortles from me which obviously doesn’t go down to well, as the visitors press. Still, chortle.
56th min – GOALLL!!! ….. East Thurrock United 2, BURY TOWN 1 The warning wasn’t heeded, and from the edge of the area on the right, BILLY CLARK smashes in a tremendous low volley into the left hand corner of the net.
Game on!
54th min – Bury Town try to get things going. A surging David Bridges run is put out for a corner, which is taken by Darren Bechet. But then Bridges and Seb Dunbar cause chaos in the six yard box. Again, the corner comes to nothing, after a visiting shove doesn’t go unnoticed.
48th min – That man David Bryant is making a nuisance of himself yet again, brushing aside the taller Bury defender on the edge of the area. He lays the ball to Luke Wanadio on the left, and his shot is parried for a corner, which is easily cleared. More encouraging signs though,
16.02pm – KICK OFF! Super stuff.
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HALF TIME: And not quite so live. Apologies for the loss of coverage but I’ve now put the shilling into the leccy meter and the dongle shows that Everything Everywhere means you can’t get anything anywhere. Stupid Kevin Bacon
Anyway, five minutes before the break, great work from Luke Wanadio on the left, his cross is blocked, Tom Stephen does the honours at the second attempt, and DAVID BRYANT buries it at the far post. Oh yes.
4 – East Thurrock United 2-0 Bury Town HT
Right, off for a decent dongle and a pie. Laters.
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37th min – Emboldened by the goal, Tom Stephen gets in on the act, and his low shot just inside the left hand edge of the area goes narrowly wide. The Suffolk visitors have tried to get some pressure going of their own, but frustration has told, with Billy Clark being booked for a late tackle.
31st min – GOALLLLL! ….. EAST THURROCK UNITED 1, Bury Town 0 What a marvellous example of chasing a lost cause. Nathan Korateng, faces his own goal on the half way, wide on the left, somehow dispossesses his opponent, and runs menacing to the left hand edge of the area. He low centre across the six yard box is perfect, beyond both keeper and back line, and DAVID BRYANT taps in at the far post.
Liquid football!
29th min – The hosts are getting joy from wide crosses into the area. Covo, sitting in the press box, is encouraged, and comments “They don’t like it there.” Not quite Corporal Jones, but close enough.
25th min – Ooh, Nathan Koranteng is set free on the right, but his shot on the edge of the area swerves just wide of the left hand post.
2 – ETU v Bury Town – Mid 1st Half
Decent game this.
22nd min – Elsewhere, early goals in Ryman One North, as a 17th minute Martyn Stokes opener for Brentwood – hurrah! – is wiped out by Ben Bredbury – hurroo.
19th min – Back come Bury Town, though, but their free kick and corner from the training ground don’t go to plan. Unless they’re lulling the Rocks into a false sense of security with a couple of soft attempts at goal.
16th min – And the Rocks respond in kind. A Ross Parmenter free kick, wide on the right, causes panic in the Manorway End goal before being scrambled clear. Good competitive stuff.
13th min – First moment of real danger, and it’s from the visitors. Simon Peddie fails to clear wide on the right, the ball is fed to Billy Clark on the edge of the area, and his lob grazes the top of the bar and over. Phew.
10th min – Rocks keeper Darren Bechet punches a Bury Town corner clear. Behind his goal is a Bury director. I’m not saying he stands out but his Elton John tribute act must be coming along a treat, as he’s seemingly dressed for a gig straight after the game.
5th min – Nowt much to report, other than a lino missing a handball about three yards in front of him, much to the ire of the aforesaid Neil. Chortle.
3.01pm – KICK OFF! Oh yes!
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2.58pm – The teams come out to polite, lukewarm applause. An improvement on last season then.
2.55pm – The crowd here is low on numbers but high on anticipation. Nice weather and a convivial atnosphere. Helped by the obvious sprucing up of Rookery Hill. Plenty of paint afresh.
2.50pm – Looking through the rather splendid programme, my eye was drawn not only to secretary Neil’s realism, but also today’s ref. Neil West was the guy that was given dog’s abuse a couple of weeks ago at Concord. This could be fun.
2.45pm – TEAM NEWS: East Thurrock United go with:
1. – Darren Bechet
2. – Connor Witherspoon
3. – Tom Stephen
4. – Simon Peddie
5. – Steve Sheehan (c)
6. – Ross Parmenter
7. – Luke Wanadio
8. – Mitchell Gilbey
9. – Craig Hughes
10. – David Bryant
11. – Nathan Koranteng
SUBS:
12. – L’hereux Menga
14. – Lee Scott
15. – Tom Anderson
16. – Ryan Sammons
17. – David Hughes
So pretty much a brand new squad for Covo, who had seven of his side that took to the play-offs at Lowestoft leaving in the summer, along with some in the past week. In the circumstances, it’s almost an achievement to have a squad. Blimey O’Reilly.
2.35pm – Looking around the grounds, Billericay Town have a nice little tester at Harrow Borough, and ooh, proper needle match for Brentwood Town, a bit of bad feeling emanated last season when they played Maldon. Chortle.
In League Two Southend United have a long trek to Peter Mandelson country, which is lovely, and the Daggers kick off their home campaign against York. All exciting stuff. So much so I’m nearly roused from my afternoon nap.
2.30pm – Hello, how the devil are you?
My, it’s been such a long time – far too long. But still, it matters not a jot, we’re all here now, and jolly good show.
I must admit to being slow on the comings and goings of non-league football locally in the summer months. While my netbook broke down I’ve taken a break from the beautiful game as well.
What I do know is that John Coventry will have his boys raring to go against impressive Suffolk visitors. A spiffing first day encounter looks a cert.
1 – East Thurrock United v Bury Town Preview
As ever, just refresh the page every few minutes, and all the drama, fun and frolic of 90 minutes in Corringham will be yours.
GAME ON!
