Yellows snatch victory from the jaws of defeat

It may have been that Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk had milder conditions than the rest of the South East, or it may have been that Pitching In Isthmian North has a plethora of 3G pitches, but it was the least weather-hit of our divisions this weekend with ‘only’ four postponements, and what we had left was both thrilling and important.

Our leaders, AFC Sudbury, had a four point gap at the top at start of play, and were favourites to- at least- maintain it as third bottom Maldon & Tiptree came to call. The Jammers had been much improved of late, however, with only one defeat from five, and they broke the deadlock early on, Laste Dombaxe opening the scoring after just four minutes. They still held that lead as we moved into the last four minutes, but then the Yellows finally came to life, and somehow managed to take all three points- even though Nnamdi Nwachuku failed to score for the first time in fourteen matches. It was double-Josh who did the damage, Josh Mayhew with the equaliser, and two minutes later Josh Stokes scored the winner

Second place Hashtag United welcomed second bottom Gorleston to the Len Salmon, and picked up a comfortable three points to make it six wins in a row. The goals came within two minutes of each other soon after the restart, Toby Aromolaran’s fifth of the season opening the scoring on fifty five minutes, Emmanuel Okunja scoring for the second Saturday in a row to double the advantage and clinch victory.

Image from Nashy Photo.

Our match of the day saw third place Heybridge Swifts take on fourth place Stowmarket Town- and the outcome meant that the two had swapped places by the end. Swifts were nine matches unbeaten, but Stow scoffed at their nine matches as their unbeaten run went back almost four months- they last lost a league match on August 16th- and they were able to continue that run by inflicting only a second defeat of the campaign on their hosts. Jack Wilkinson put the visitors ahead midway through the first half, but Ross Wall’s eleventh of the campaign looked to have given the hosts the edge just after the hour. It was the visitors who dominated, however, Marlon Agyakwa coming from the bench to give his side the lead with fifteen minutes left, and Ed Upson finished the contest by adding a third, four minutes from time. Manager of the Month curse? Not this time- and a third win in a row for Stow over Swifts.

New Salamis and East Thurrock United faced off on White Hart Lane- and the Rocks came from a losing position with two minutes remaining to take all three points. Salamis have been our surprise package, and started the weekend four points behind the top five and with only two defeats from their last ten- and it looked like they’d added three points more, leading until right before the end after Derek Asamoah’s sixteenth of the season. With twenty two minutes to go the hosts saw Junior Luke dismissed, but it looked like they’d held on until Sam Carter equalised with just two minutes left. Right at the end substitute Brian Moses delighted the travelling faithful and moved into double figures for the season, clinching what had looked an unlikely three points for the visitors and sending them up to seventh.

Grays Athletic came into their match with Great Wakering Rovers on the back of a run which had seen them take only one win from their last five, but they got back to winning ways and moved up to eighth in the table. Lewis Clark gave them the lead after just seven minutes, and Sam Bantick’s twelfth of the season made it two, thirteen minutes from time. Billy Johnson got a late goal for Rovers, but they didn’t have time to make it count- and go nine matches without a win, falling to eighteenth in the process.

Wroxham increased their gap on the bottom four as Coggeshall Town came to call. The visiting Seed Growers remain without a win all season, whilst the Yachtsmen are five unbeaten and moved up to fourteenth with a two-nil win. Both goals came after the break, Ryan Curtis and Brad Spooner scoring them. The Seed Growers are eleven points from any form of safety.

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