Brentwood Town 2-0 Erith & Belvedere
Billericay Town 0-1 East Thurrock United
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FULL TIME: And in the end, an entertaing, desrerved home win. An outstanding perforannce by Lindiipho Mtyanda was the decisive factor, at times almost unstoppable on the right. Steve Cavell took his goal well – thank you lino – and Martyn Stokes, leading goalscorer, who’d have thunk it!
Right, that’s it for a while. London Broncos and then the Challenge Cup Final in the world of rugby league is taking up my time for a while. Until the next game, enjoy yourselves, and your football.
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90th min – This time Mtyanda, James Love and Jake Cass combine, the latter’s low shot just inside the area going about 3 inches past the near post. Great stuff. Three minutes of injury time.
88th min – Yet another Mtyanda run, and this time he has a go himself inside the area. It’s deflected and almost goes in but is saved. From that another Brentwood sustutition, Jonathan Adebayo replacing opening scorer Steve Cavell.
84th min – Well under control. The heads on top of those red and white quartered shirts you can see are dropping. The full back Mtyanda is causing mayhem down the right, and links up well with the forward line. Jake Cass was the latest to have a pop at goal from the right flank supply line but it was easily saved.
79th min – All Brentwood now and Steve Cavell marauds forward in the right hand edge of the box, his strong and accurate shot parried away superbly. The hosts now totally bossing this. Coach Les WHitton looking and sounding a lot happier. Which means he’s merely grumpy. Chortle.
73rd min – GOALLLLL! ….. BRENTWOOD TOWN 2, Erith & Belvedere 0. A corner on the right, a bullet header from MARTYN STOKES, wallop, back of the net! Oh yes!
Liquid football, Stokesy!
70th min – All Brentwood now. E&B keeper Jack Bradshaw has made a couple of outstanding saves from Robbie Rees and Petrit Elbi and Steve Cavell should have wrapped it up in a one-on-one.
65th min – GOALLLL!!! ….. BRENTWOOD TOWN 1, Erith & Belvedere 0 At last something! Lindiipho Mtyanda has been making rampaging runs down the right from full back all this half, and from there, STEVE CAVELL, looking suspiciously offside, slotted a low curler home just inside the box
They count, so long as that flag doesn’t go up!
59th min – John Bradley tries an audacious back heel to find a colleague. It always makes you look stupid if it doesn’t come off. It makes the defender look worse, though, when they too immediately give the ball away. Steve Cavell gets a hold of it and from 25 yards shoots just over the bar. Hardly liquid football but a good Brentwood effort in the end.
56th min – And that is Anthony Ryan’s last action of the evening, being replaced by Robbie Ryan.
54th min – The closest yet to a goal. Ryan goes wide on the right himself, turns his defender inside out, and shoots low inside the area. Bradshaw makes an excellent reflex save but is parried out. Agonisingly, there’s nobody there to follow it up. Gaaaaah.
51st min – Much better from Brentwood. Ball played out wide to James Love, and from the touchline, his cross finds the head of Anthony Ryan. His effort on goal is looping, however, and comfortably taken by Jack Bradshaw, but still, some danger at last.
48th min – Well, we’ve got some, but again from the visitors. Good chasing down ends in Rhys Madden and Gbenga Sonuka combining to put the ball out of play on the left. From that a shot comes in and Madden atones for the situation with an excellent save, the subsequent corner being well defended.
8.47pm – KICK OFF! Please let it be with a bit more goal chance frolics and fun please.
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HALF TIME: And, well, it’s been okay to watch, without being particularly memorable. The frustration towards the end of the half and not keeping possession, giving the ball away a bit too easily, could be felt among the Brentwood supporters as well as coach next to me. As for Erith & Belvedere, nice going forward at times, no cutting edge. 0-0 is probably about right. But only just.
Right off for an Irn Bru. Which I’ll not be giving away. Laters.
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41st min – Rather picture skew now, with dusk, darkening clouds and that. The coach’s vocabulary has become bluer and darker, too, with Brentwood struggling to hold and keep possession.
36th min – At last the hosts surge forward. Steve Cavell is in a central position about 30 yards out. “Wide”, comes the shout from the crowd. He instead hits a low, rasping volley, destined for the left hand corner of the net until Jack Bradshaw gets a hand to it. Great stuff.
33rd min – And still the visitors move forward, this time a wicked shot, wide on the left near the bye-line, whistles just over the bar across the face of goal.
31st min – And well might he be. More visiting pressure, including a free kick, then a goalbound header scrambled away for a corner. Neither I or my Kentish counterpart could see who made the header, although we both agreed the wooden post obscuring the view looked pretty. Chortle.
29th min – Must be something about my after-shave. Yet again, a member of the host club coaching staff sits – or stands – next to me during the game. Maybe it’s my pearls of wisdom. Anyway, he shouts at John Bradley for giving the ball away and letting E&B have another pop at goal. Silent though when Charlie Rolls, at the other end sends in a super little cross from the left, which ends in a Jake Cass shot going just over. Hard taskmaster, this ‘un. And not a happy bunny.
24th min – No doubt about it, E&B have taken control after a bright home start. More joy on the right, the ball is quickly switched, and then a low centre across the six yard box causes panic before it’s cleared – just.
22nd min – And a bit of visiting pressure down the right ends in a cross-cum-shot from over 25 yards that Rhys Madden has to parry out for a corner. Which is easily defended. Phew.
19th min – Indeed, Erith & Belvedere are already forced to make a substitution, Kevin Lott coming off and replaced by Danny Willis. Hurrah, the sun has gone down, and the tunnel folded in. Just the wire mesh gate and wooden posts in the way now. Chortle.
16th min – Meanwhile, at New Lodge, I suspected this might happen. Nathan Korteng has given East Thurrock United the lead at Billericay Town. Covo’s got his young, young side playing beautifully and sets up that game perfectly. Missing nothing here, though, with players being treated for a knock.
12th min – The first remote sign of threat from the visitors. A free kick wide on the left about 35 yards out, hoisted into the area, then a tame header well wide of the far post. At least I could see it though.
8thh min – As Brentwood are doing most of the attacking, at the end that can’t be seen from the press box, I can summarise that they’ve started well enough without scoring. In the meantime, I like the E&B kit of red and white quarters. Almost as much as I liked seeing the women doing some outdoor training walking towards the ground. And a sausage dog keeps wandering by. One way or another an interesing start.
3rd min – An early Brentwood Town foray forward. A shot and a parry away at the Doddinghurst Road End goal, and a shout from the goalie at his defenders. Who done what I have no idea because of the sun and the tunnel in the way. I’m sure it was very good though.
7.46pm – KICK OFF! Oh yes!
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7.43pm – The teams come out to waves of healthy apathy. The tunnel obscures one half of the pitch. As well as the sun. The people around me are shielding their eyes with their programme and glaring at club officials. Chortle.
7.35pm – TEAM NEWS: Brentwood Town go with:
1. – Ryhs Madden
2. – Lindiipho Mtyanda
3. – Charlie Rolls
4. – Martyn Stokes
5. – Gbenga Sonuga
6. – James Love
7. – Petrit Elbi
8. – John Bradley
9. – Anthony Ryan
10. – Jake Cass
11. – Stephen Cavell
SUBS:
12 – Jonathan Adebayo
14. – Jay Simmons
15. – Jack Gardner
16. – Robbie Rees
17. – Tim Pitman
A few changes in the summer, inevtably, with a new manager, Les Whitton. Let’s have three new points.
7.30pm – Elsewhere, big derby at New Lodge tonight in the Ryman Premier. Billericay Town started Saturday with a solid point at Harrow Borough. Meanwhile, East Thurrock United had Saturday’s live treatment, and their 2-2 draw with Bury Town, as you know, was an absolute cracker.
Tomorrow, though, is something else. England v Scotland. Who do my loyalties lie with? Well, what do you expect from a Hearts supporter? Yep, that’s right, couldn’t care less one way or the other. I’ll be watching Gold and I’m Alan Partridge. Ah ha,
7.25pm – A very good afternoon from a very cool summer’s evening here at the Arena. Brrrr, I should’ve known shorts wouldn’t be much cop for football.
Early days, of course, and predictable though it was, Brentwood Town’s opening day defeat at Maldon & Tiptree was disappointing, especially as Martyn Stokes had given the boys an early lead.
Never mind, that cannot be changed. What they can do now is brush themselves off and get some points at the expense of their Kentish visitors. With that extra eagerness of wanting to put on a show for their first home game, this could be a spiffing evening.
As ever, just keep refreashing the pages every few minutes, and the delights and splendour of a cold Tuesday night next to the A12 will be yours.
GAME ON!
