Essex Olympian League – Premier Division
Venue: London Road
Season 2020- 21: Match 15
Saturday 17th October 2020 – 2.30pm KO
Rayleigh Town: Navy Blue Shirts, Navy Blue Shorts & Socks
Hutton: Red Shirts, Red Shorts, Red Socks
Energised Hutton win well at mis-firing Rayleigh
Rayleigh Town 1 – 3 Hutton
Match Report & Photos by Scott W (Twitter: @ScottMHC14) with additional photos by @fitinaflash (with thanks)
On an afternoon which ended up being one of a double-header (the other being an Essex Premier Cup tie later in the day), I returned to London Road to see Rayleigh Town’s intriguing contest with new-look Hutton in the Essex Olympian League Premier Division. The hosts had powerful forward Bailey Moss and Paul Morris in attack, with Harry Talbot and Ollie Hanlon on the flanks. George Vile skippered the side and Mark Brown was named between the posts. On the bench were the likes of Cameron Glover, Teddy Rumsey and Mike Okafor. For Matt Singh’s Hutton side, they fielded goalkeeper Adrian Faherty with a back four of Tom Stephens, John Carroll plus centre-backs Jonathan Hilliard and Elliott Fraser, with hard-working forwards Brad Freeman and Will Marlowe in attack. Among their replacements were forward Sean O’Callaghan, plus Keelan O’Donovan and player-assistant boss Robert Lorkins.
The match got underway in some style as merely two minutes in, pacy winger Harry Talbot broke free of the visitors’ defence but with only custodian Adrian Faherty to bypass, a great recovery challenge by centre-back Jonathan Hilliard denied him a really good chance at goal. Moments later at the other end, decent build-up play by Hutton saw the ball find its way to winger Joshua Seal who fired low from the edge of the area but Rayleigh stopper Mark Brown got down well and made a good one-handed save. Rayleigh were cursing their finishing again on six minutes as a fine centre by forward Bailey Moss found Ollie Hanlon, but Faherty got down well to deny him with his foot from point-blank range. Hutton did break the deadlock on 17 minutes as a fine ball in from the left flank found forward Will Marlowe who guided his header superbly past Brown to find the top corner.
To be fair to the visitors, they kept up the pressure in the next part of the half as a fine free-kick from midfielder Stephen Judge twenty yards out drew another fine save from Brown in tipping it over the crossbar. From another corner by Judge on 26 minutes, Marlowe headed over the goal frame as Town were just lacking their composure and cohesion they were striving for in building attacks. Even so, Rayleigh did level the match nine minutes before the interval as Faheryty was adjudged to have pushed Moss in challenging for a high ball in the area, and strike partner Paul Morris emphatically struck home the resulting spot-kick into the left-side of the net.
Half-Time: Rayleigh Town 1 – 3 Hutton
At the start of the second-half, the visitors were a man light as Marlowe had been sin-binned after the penalty I believe. Even with that disadvantage, Matt Singh’s side were fired up and started the second half strongly. Three minutes after the break, forward Brad Freeman evaded the Town defence again but Brown denied him one-on-one. Substitute Sean O’Callaghan was also showing his pace and movement since coming on before the break and he also took advantage of slack marking to face Brown, but again the assured stopper denied him with a good save. There were plenty of warning signs for the hosts as Marlowe ghosted past the Town backline, who were uncharacteristically slack here at times and the Hutton forward brought out another good parry by the over-worked Brown. Hutton did re-take the lead on 63 minutes as Marlowe’s initial effort was thwarted on the goal-line but O’Callaghan was there to prod home a second attempt from point-blank range.
Town were unfortunate to have a goal chalked off moments later, with replacement Cameron Glover the unlucky finisher. But that said, Hutton were energised by their work rate and looked the more threatening at times. They rounded out the scoring with twelve minutes remaining, with the tireless Freeman making another imposing run and despite Town left-back Harry Higgins making a good interception, O’Callaghan was there again to follow-up and prod home his second of the afternoon. Town kept going though their morale was being drained, an substitute Mike Okafor was denied by a decent save by Faherty as the minutes ebbed away. In the end, not the hosts’ best day but Hutton will take any away wins they can get and they deserved the win.
Full-Time: Rayleigh Town 1 – 3 Hutton
So to sum-up this surprise result, Hutton showed a bit of guile and a lot of energy to win the match well in the end. In terms of stand-out performances, Hutton’s front two of Brad Freeman and Will Marlowe showed a great work rate and no lack of strength to give the home defence a hard afternoon. Creative midfielder Stephen Judge also made a noticeable difference with his set-pieces and passing, while centre-back Jonathan Hilliard made a number of crucial tackles, right from the early goings of this game so well done to them. For Rayleigh, the team performance probably wasn’t up to the standards that manager Paul Higgins and his staff would have wanted and in the end they couldn’t sustain the pressure on the visitors for long enough, particularly in the second half. Tricky winger Harry Talbot leads their honourable mentions as he showed no lack of pace and skill to test defenders, while centre forward Bailey Moss did hold the ball up well, looking to get the others involved. Goalkeeper Mark Brown made a number of good saves and looked assured and finally skipper George Vile put in a hard-working performance in central midfield.
Lastly, I’d like to wish both sides well for the rest of this hard-fought Olympian Premier campaign.
Teams
Rayleigh Town | Manager: Paul Higgins
Starting XI: 1 Mark Brown (GK), 2 Charlie Seaden, 3 Harry Higgins, 4 Aaron Clark, 16 Jack Long, 6 Dan Regan, 7 Harry Talbot, 8 George Vile (Capt), 9 Bailey Moss, 10 Paul Morris, 11 Ollie Hanlon
Goal-scorers: Paul Morris [pen 36’]
Subs Used: 12 Cameron Glover [54’], 14 Teddy Rumsey [54’], 5 Tom Franks [69’], 15 Mike Okafor [69’]
Booked: Long, Regan | Subs Not Used: Larkin
———————————–
Hutton | Manager: Matt Singh
Starting XI: 1 Adrian Faherty (GK), 2 Tom Stephens, 3 John Carroll, 4 Kyle Linzell (Capt), 5 Elliott Fraser, 6 Jonathan Hilliard, 7 Stephen Judge, 8 Lewis Scott, 9 Brad Freeman, 10 Will Marlowe, 11 Joshua Seal
Goal-scorers: Will Marlowe [17’], Sean O’Callaghan [63’ & 78’]
Subs Used: 14 Sean O’Callaghan [33’], 12 Keelan O’Donovan [45’], 17 Robert Lorkins [83’]
Booked: Marlowe (Sin-binned) | Subs Not Used: None
Referee: Charles Nicholls
Assistant Referees: Martin Smith and Zara Wickert
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