Essex Senior League
Venue: Lower Road
Attendance: 42
Date: Saturday 29th April 2017 3.10pm KO
Hullbrudge Sports : Blue & White Striped Shirts, Blue Shorts, Blue Socks
Sporting Bengal Utd : Bright Orange Shirts, Black Shorts, Yellow Socks
Scott W reporting (Follow me on Twitter: @ScottMHC14)
On a nice sunny afternoon at Lower Road, mid-table Hullbridge Sports took on Sporting Bengal Utd in an Essex Senior League encounter, on the last day of the ESL season. The eventful nature of this match started before kick-off as it was delayed due to Bengal manager Imrul Gazi being stuck in traffic, also having the team’s kit with him.
It got more eventful as the Bengal line-up was revealed, which saw an already depleted line-up further impinged by having to field Gazi himself in goal. Credit goes to him by the way.
Both sides struggled to settle in the early stages of the match, Bengal having a couple of early chances though forward Steven Carvell’s drive was deflected for a corner then soon afterward, captain Shiblu Miah shot wide of the right-side post.
Hullbridge did battle back with winger Charlie Little looking dangerous on the right flank with his crossing. Indeed, Little fired over the bar midway through the first-half when one-on-one with ‘keeper Gazi. Moments later, Hullbridge captain Jimmy Cox forced a decent save from the stand-in stopper.
Just past the half-hour mark, Bengal forward Lewis Francis shot wide of goal after an error from home defender Sam Taylor. Almost straight after, Hullbridge forward Luca Frankis twice couldn’t find the target and then Little fired wide from a narrow angle.
What was evident was home captain Cox audibly trying to lift his team-mates throughout the match. Little had a goal ruled out five minutes before the break for a push on visiting defender Raul Da Silva, it looked quite harsh. Though it didn’t matter as two minutes before the interval a free-kick from Aaron Hunwicks went sent into the box and Little was there to get a tap-in. Hullbridge should have been 3 or 4 ahead by this point though a combination of decent defending at times and largely poor finishing meant the difference was only one at the break.
Half-Time: Hullbridge Sports 1 – 0 Sporting Bengal Utd
The second half began with Bengal hitting the woodwork, Shiblu Miah striking a decent effort, with home ‘keeper Jamie Merralls beaten. The home side had another goal chalked off four minutes after the re-start for off-side. Hullbridge kept going though and got their reward as on 65 minutes, Frankis grabbed another tap-in after a good cross in from Little on the right. Ten minutes later, Cox got the goal he probably deserved, lofting the ball over ‘keeper Gazi to make it 3-0.
Bengal were denied by ‘keeper Merralls three minutes later, Chris Wright being foiled as his shot was well saved. In the closing stages, Hullbridge put the ‘icing on the cake’ as Dean Wallace slotted home past Gazi into the left corner and soon after, Cox got his second, blasting home from close range.
As far as performances went, I thought Charlie Little, Jimmy Cox and Dean Wallace did quite well for Hullbridge. For Sporting Bengal, I thought Aaron Wickham and Steven Carvell did well.
Hullbridge got the win they wanted and deserved; they finish the season in 11th place on 60 points. You had to feel a bit for Bengal, as they held out quite well initially despite only having 12 available players though regardless of today’s result, they finish 19th, 15 points clear of the bottom three and will look to better that position next season.
Full-Time: Hullbridge Sports 5 – 0 Sporting Bengal Utd
Little 43’, Frankis 65’
Cox 75’, 88
Wallace 86’
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Teams: |
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Hullbridge Sports Player-Manager: Rob Hodgson |
Sporting Bengal Utd Player-Manager: Imrul Gazi |
| 1 Jamie Merralls (GK) | 1 Imrul Gazi (GK) |
| 2 Aaron Hunwicks | 2 Troy Alexander |
| 3 Sam Taylor | 3 Aaron Wickham |
| 4 Dean Wallace | 4 Shafi Noor |
| 5 Kieran Offord (Subbed 56’) | 5 Raul Da Silva |
| 6 Joe Turpin | 6 Mo Gulzar Hussain |
| 7 Charlie Little | 7 Lewis Francis |
| 8 Ben Perry | 8 David Vaughan |
| 9 Jimmy Cox (C) | 9 Shiblu Miah (C) |
| 10 Luca Frankis | 10 Steven Carvell |
| 11 Charlie Gerada (Subbed 56’) | 11 Chris Wright (Subbed 79’) |
| Substitutes: | |
| 12 Matt Brinklow (On 56’) | 12 Samad Miah (On 79’) |
| 14 Rob Hodgson (On 56’) | |
| Booked: Cox | |
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Referee: |
Jeff Stanley |
| Assistant Referees: |
Ray Parmenter Trevor Williams |
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