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Braintree Town 3-0 Chelmsford City, Tuesday 7th November 2006, Cressing Road, Kick-Off 7:45pm, Essex Senior Cup supported by B.B.C. Essex Third Round.
An experimental Clarets side battled-well at Cressing Road against full-strength local rivals Braintree Town and went down to three close-range strikes. With one eye on Saturday's immense F.A. Cup tie at home to Aldershot, Jeff King and Glenn Pennyfather took the opportunity to further examine how much talent they had on the sidelines with nine changes being made to the starting eleven that defeated Boreham Wood at the weekend. Youth Team wingers Ashley Cole and Matt Hall took their places on the right and left flanks respectively and in the middle Liam Hopkins and Mitchell Lowes were fielded. The front two of Jason Hallett and Tony Battersby were familiar and they gained useful match minutes as they staked their claim for a place at the weekend, with Hallett particularly impressive. In defence, Gavin Heeroo was played at right back and Stuart Ainsley took his place on the left either side of new centre halves Bryan Glover and Chris Wild. Wild, a former player at Braintree, counts Margate amongst his recent clubs and was a reluctant release from the Kent outfit. Ashley Harrison wore the Number One jersey in his first City start between the sticks. Town, after a disappointing League result at the weekend, sent-out their full-strength eleven and quickly moved into the lead as James Baker, a regular scorer against the Clarets, tapped into an open goal on 7 minutes. Chelmsford enjoyed a short spell of threat mid-way through the half as Lowes spotted a gap between defenders from twenty-five yards and produced a low drive which forced tall goalkeeper Nicky Morgan to push wide. Hallett also went close within sixty seconds, half-volleying on-target from an acute angle and Morgan tipped over. However, Braintree were next to get on the scoresheet through former Hendon marksman Eugene Ofori who finished from close range after a cross into the penalty area was not effectively dealt with by the defence. After the break Chelmsford improved and the youngsters on show grew in confidence. Heeroo's effort from distance crept wide as the hour mark approached though the 61st minute brought about Town's third, courtesy of another Ofori strike from a few yards. Harrison in the City goal was performing well despite the scoreline and he collected a James Hawes shot as well as thwarting Ofori at his feet as he ran from his goal. He rivalled Hallett for City's Man-of-the-Match award and the latter gifted Cole the best chance of the game in the 67th minute, dribbling forward before teeing-up the youthful midfielder who needed too much time before pulling the trigger and the ball was blocked. Towards the end, Harrison did well to hold onto a powerful Andy Porter volley in one of the final acts of a match which will have been beneficial to the City dugout in learning more about their squad ahead of the game of the season at the weekend. City: 1 Ashley Harrison Braintree Town: Nicky Morgan, Billy Burgess, Mark Jones, Steve Good, Russ Edwards, Bradley Quinton, Robbie Martin, Andy Porter, James Baker, Eugene Ofori, James Hawes. Subs: Dwayne Plummer, Dean Bradshaw, Ollie Adedeji, Liam Bailey. Bookings: None. Referee: Mr N. Kinseley (Wickford). Assistant Referees: Mr R. Ellis (Harlow) and Mr S. Gillman (Wivenhoe). Attendance: 237. City Man of the Match: Jason Hallett. |
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By Chris Evans
(Picture by Matt Bradshaw)
