STARTING the game off with an attitude to win, the girls dominated the pitch and forward Miagh Downey had three shots on goal inside the opening 15 minutes. Leading up to half time, there was no score on the board until Clarke decided to ensure the team’s hard work paid off by sliding the ball past the goalkeeper into the bottom of the net after a one-on-one thanks to a fantastic through ball from Captain Emily Baker.
THE FIVE senior football teams in Thurrock have over a hundred games to play between now and the end of April. The dreadful weather conditions have seen the fixtures pile up to such a degree that some teams are now looking at three games per week.
PLAYING fields are one of the most important resources for sport in England, but many of them are waterlogged or in a state of disrepair, so Sport England are investing £28 million of National Lottery funding into improving community sports fields. The programme is being delivered via eight funding rounds, and the current round will close on 24th March.
ANOTHER defeat for East Thurrock United as they fail to win once again. Thurrock lose at title favourites VCD Athletic and Aveley grab a late winner against Brentwood.
THE WEATHER will dictate the news in these fixtures. It is all becoming very frustrating. The bottom line has always been that games will be played by end of April even if that means 10-12 games in April but at this rate....?
DUE to continual rainfall in the north-east, the match was played at Hebburn School on a 3G surface with a 9:15am kick-off, which will have been the earliest many of the boys had ever played a competitive fixture. The initial exchanges were dominated by Durham and they, in fact, had the first real chance after 5 minutes. As the game settled down, both sides enjoyed their fair share of the play and the half time scoreline of 0-0 was a true reflection of the match.
ESSEX'S Under 16s Girls Schools representative squad had an astounding finish to a well deserved win in their final South-East England Schools Football Association (SEESFA) fixture against Sussex, winning 3-0 to earn them the title of league champions. Essex started the match strongly, and at a fast pace. After 13 minutes, St Martin’s School’s Evie Clarke, the team’s Captain and England star, was awarded a free kick which she keenly struck home for a fantastic goal. Having grabbed the lead, Essex started to dominate the pitch, and the attacks start to multiply.
THE ROCKS played out an entertaining but ultimately fruitless ninety minutes as they went down 2-1 to AFC Hornchurch at Rookery Hill Once again, the miracle makers at Rookery Hill managed to get the game on and in tricky conditions underfoot, East Thurrock tried to get a grip on the game.
GRAYS went down to their sixth defeat in a row as they lost to a late strike from promotion chasing Bury. Once again, a lack of discipline cost Grays Ath dear as they had four players booked and striker Jeff Hammond sent off. Grays are now in eighteenth position, sixth from bottom. Although they have a number of games in hand, that may count for nothing as the team are clearly in freefall.
East Thurock had approached the match in positive fashion and tried to get men forward at every opportunity, but the game is not just about numbers, it’s about cohesion and at the moment there is little of that in the play of John Coventry’s side. There’s no lack of effort, but the link-up play is poor and throughout the game they failed to produce a cutting edge to their possession – and all too often gave the ball away cheaply, exposing themselves to Lowestoft’s swift counter-attacking style of play. However, Rocks were generally able to cope at the back and neither side created any chances of real note until Mr Potkins’ 27th minute aberration.
AFTER a long break, Tilbury were back in action on a good playing surface at Cheshunt. Paul Vaughan gave debuts to Greg Cohen and Dagenham and Redbridge loanee Harrison Twedell and both played well in a good 0-0 result. In a cautious, but even opening it took 11 minutes for the first real effort that fell to Tilbury when Twedell played in Babalola who hit wide.
A WONDERFUL free kick from a player who nearly signed for Grays Ath a few years ago, condemned the Blues to their fifth league defeat in a row.
Those defeats against Hendon, Leiston, Dulwich Hamlet, Maidstone and now Thamesmead Town leave the club just five points off the relegation zone. Grays have a number of games in hand but it is difficult to know where the next victory is coming from.
It seemed appropriate that the first chance of the game came from a goalmouth scramble as Enfield players pinged the ball around the Rocks area. The ball fell to Mitch Hahn but his shot, deflected by Bertie Brayley was flagged offside. In the 3rd minute, David Hughes squeezed into space but with just the keeper to beat, his weak shot underlined the lack of confidence the Rocks have been showing all season.
EAST Thurrock earned a valuable point with a 1-1 draw against Enfield Town. Grays Athletic suffered another defeat as they may have one eye on the relegation battle as well. Tilbury earned a hard fought point.
HARRIS ACADEMY student, Mark Onyemah has been selected for the England Under-18 football squad. Mark, a promising left back Mark Onyemah has been called up after trials at the English Schools FA.
