Another weekend, another collection of wins for our top three

We’ve still got only two points between the top three after each of them won again.

Our leaders, Canvey Island, welcomed Basildon United. The Gulls were unbeaten in four, and made it five with some ease. Bradley Sach and Odei Martin-Sorondo put them two up in the first half, and Matt Price’s twenty seventh of the campaign made it three. The Bees did make a fight of it, Daniel McCullock getting one back with nineteen minutes remaining, but if the next goal was all-important it eased any Gulls nerves, Evans Kouassi getting his twenty fourth of the season.

Our match of the day saw second place Stowmarket Town welcome fourth place Grays Athletic. Town were eight matches unbeaten, having won six of them and drawn the other two nil-nil, and have the best defence in the Division- but the second best defence? You’ve guessed it, visitors Grays Athletic had conceded only one goal more, but had also played one more game. We suspected there wouldn’t be much between the two, and that was certainly the case. After a goalless first half Willie Clemons opened the scoring for the hosts just after the restart, and that turned out to be that.

The third place Aveley hosted Coggeshall Town at Parkside. Two points behind Canvey, they’d taken twenty six points from their last thirty and hadn’t experienced league defeat since being narrowly beaten by Stowmarket on December 4th- and they got three more points in defeating the Seed Growers. Alex Akrofi opened the scoring after just seven minutes with his twenty third of the season, and that was soon followed by a second from George Sykes, who has now scored in eleven of his last fifteen matches. Jon Benton made it three on sixty four minutes, Sykes had another twenty minutes from time, and then Dylan Logan got one back for the visitors only for Benton to get another, his side’s fifth. Town saw Logan get a second, but that was that. Five-two was the final score.

We then move on to the battle for fifth place, which now sees three sides tied on fifty one points. We start with the side who held that position at start of play, Brentwood Town, who still hold that position at the end of play, too. The Blues welcomed the Blues, as Barking arrived at the Arena, the visitors desperate for points for an entirely different reason. The opening goal went to the hosts, and it arrived early, Rob Harvey scoring after eleven minutes, and that turned out to be that- enough to keep Town in the driving seat.

Hashtag United, our social media darlings, were on the road to Bury Town, their hosts having recorded their best win of the season last time out, walloping eight goals without reply against Romford. The Tags had lost only one of their last seven, and in-form Sam Bantick gave them the lead on eighteen minutes. After the break Luke Hirst made it two, and they held on to move up to sixth.

Felixstowe and Walton United were on the road to Witham Town, their hosts also needing the points as they fight to avoid relegation. After a goalless first half Ollie Canfer did what Ollie Canfer tends to do with regularity, score, this time with ten minutes to go- and that turned out to be the only goal of the game. That’s ten goals for Canfer, fifty one points for the Seasiders.

Dereham Town had what looked a tricky trip as they headed to Maldon & Tiptree- and so it proved. The one thing the Magpies don’t seem to do is draw- from their previous ten matches they’d won five and lost five- and it didn’t look like they’d win today after Winn- George Winn, that is- gave the Jammers the lead five minutes after the break, but they levelled on sixty nine minutes when Adam Hipperson got his seventeenth of the season, from the spot. The winner came just before the end, and it went to the Jammers, Brad McClenaghan boosting his own side’s promotion hopes and damaging the Magpies chances.

AFC Sudbury welcomed Heybridge Swifts as they hoped to build on their midweek win over Brentwood Town. The Yellows were five games unbeaten, and as such hadn’t yet given up on their own play off aspirations- after all, four points was not an insurmountable gap. They took the lead five minutes after the break, Cameron Forde-Brown opening the scoring, and got another just before the end, Reece Harris making it two-nil and sealing victory. Our headline image comes from the lens of Alan Edmonds- and you can see the rest of Alan's work by heading here.

Nearer the bottom end of the table, Tilbury, in fourteenth, travelled to face eighteenth place Hullbridge Sports. The Dockers had only two wins from ten, whilst Sports had been much improved despite losing three-one to Hashtag United last time out- but they weren’t improved today, as the Dockers took them to pieces. It was four-nil at half time, two from Charles Bampoe and one each from Roman Campbell and William Harris, with Harris getting the third from the spot just before the break and Bampoe converting number four also from the spot before the half time whistle could be sounded. The second half saw no further goals, but the Dockers didn’t need any.

Finally Romford, under new management, welcomed Great Wakering Rovers. Boro had taken two points from their last thirty and conceded twenty two goals in their last four matches, and had conceded another three by the break in this one, Jaden Crowhurst, Charlie Morris and Alex Clark doing the damage. It was four-nil on sixty six minutes, Jake Gordon with that one, and there was a fifth just before the end, Clark with another.

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