Reserves 2-2 draw away to Witham
Photo- Tom Williams who stepped in as goalkeeper in the absence of Ross Welton and Tom had a good game between the sticks making some top class saves.
RIDGEONS RESERVES -SOUTH - SATURDAY MARCH 12th
WITHAM RESERVES 2 BRANTHAM RESERVES 2
Another away day for the ressies (writes Nathan Burrell) as we travelled to Witham for another tricky looking game. Witham battered us at home a month earlier 0-3 so we knew a tough afternoon was in store. We welcomed Tom Williams in for goal for Ross Welton, who was taking his new girlfriend to Leeds to watch the Town - enough said!! Lee Willcox was playing his last game before going into hospital and we all wish him well and Lee was skipper for the day. Witham started quite brightly and young Tom Williams had a couple of early good touches. Our first real chance fell on 5 minutes when Lee Willcox broke down the left and put in a great early cross which Adam Thompson just failed to get on the end of. We then had two glorious chances to take the lead but squandered the chances on both occasions. Firstly Ben Spencer took a quick long throw and Adam Thompson shot just wide and then Lee Willcox played a lovely through ball to Alex Street who scuffed his effort past the post. We took the lead after 20 minutes when from a corner the free scoring centre back, James Long, came in at the far post and planted his header into the corner of the net. We then increased our lead 10 minutes later when Ben Sparrow broke clear and his shot was blocked by the keeper but Lee Willcox was on hand to bang the rebound in to give us a 2-0 lead. Witham, to be fair, had chances and on the stroke of half time struck our woodwork three times and on each occasion were unlucky not to have scored.
So half time and Merch and myself were fairly happy with the performance but certainly knew that this game wasn't won and stressed this fact to the boys and we all knew how important that next goal would be. The first 15 minutes of the half were pretty ordinary from both teams but we had the chance to make it 3-0 when from a Witham corner we broke down our left and the ball was played to Ben Sparrow who was bearing down on goal but his first touch took him wide and the chance was missed. The game now was becoming fairly heated with some tasty challenges going in and Witham were awarded a free kick just outside the box and with us still arguing with the decision the free kick was placed into the corner of our goal, so 1-2 and game on. Lee Willcox then came off injured and Merch came on to settle us down, but Witham were having more possession but we looked the more dangerous on the counter attack. On 35 minutes Ben Spencer smacked the cross bar with a great 25 yard effort and Ben Green smacked the rebound high and wide. Witham almost immediately broke and they also hit our cross bar with a good effort. With two minutes left Witham grabbed the equalizer with a poor goal from our point of view. A long punt upfield caught us out and we let the ball bounce and their forward outpaced us well to make the game level at 2-2. This thought wasn't the end of the action as right from our kick off we played a ball into the Witham penalty area and Kev Mann headed the ball across the goal and Ben Spencer ran past a defender to head home but was adjudged offside. So the game ended 2-2 and looking back was probably a fair result with Witham certainly causing us a few problems for the second time this season. Next week we host Stanway Reserves and with 6 games left we certainly need to win all of these to put pressure on Braintree at the top of the table.
Brantham - 1.Tom Williams. 2.Ben Spencer. 3.Scott Cooke. 4. James Lonmg (1 goal). 5.Kev Mann. 6.James Turner. 7.Ben Green. 8.Alex Street. 9.Lee Willcox (1 goal). 10.Ben Sparrow. 11. Adam Thompson. subs - Allan Merchant, Ross Cooper and Danny Garrad.
(thanks to Nathan Burrell for another good report - --barry felgate---)
WITHAM RESERVES 2 BRANTHAM RESERVES 2
Another away day for the ressies (writes Nathan Burrell) as we travelled to Witham for another tricky looking game. Witham battered us at home a month earlier 0-3 so we knew a tough afternoon was in store. We welcomed Tom Williams in for goal for Ross Welton, who was taking his new girlfriend to Leeds to watch the Town - enough said!! Lee Willcox was playing his last game before going into hospital and we all wish him well and Lee was skipper for the day. Witham started quite brightly and young Tom Williams had a couple of early good touches. Our first real chance fell on 5 minutes when Lee Willcox broke down the left and put in a great early cross which Adam Thompson just failed to get on the end of. We then had two glorious chances to take the lead but squandered the chances on both occasions. Firstly Ben Spencer took a quick long throw and Adam Thompson shot just wide and then Lee Willcox played a lovely through ball to Alex Street who scuffed his effort past the post. We took the lead after 20 minutes when from a corner the free scoring centre back, James Long, came in at the far post and planted his header into the corner of the net. We then increased our lead 10 minutes later when Ben Sparrow broke clear and his shot was blocked by the keeper but Lee Willcox was on hand to bang the rebound in to give us a 2-0 lead. Witham, to be fair, had chances and on the stroke of half time struck our woodwork three times and on each occasion were unlucky not to have scored.
So half time and Merch and myself were fairly happy with the performance but certainly knew that this game wasn't won and stressed this fact to the boys and we all knew how important that next goal would be. The first 15 minutes of the half were pretty ordinary from both teams but we had the chance to make it 3-0 when from a Witham corner we broke down our left and the ball was played to Ben Sparrow who was bearing down on goal but his first touch took him wide and the chance was missed. The game now was becoming fairly heated with some tasty challenges going in and Witham were awarded a free kick just outside the box and with us still arguing with the decision the free kick was placed into the corner of our goal, so 1-2 and game on. Lee Willcox then came off injured and Merch came on to settle us down, but Witham were having more possession but we looked the more dangerous on the counter attack. On 35 minutes Ben Spencer smacked the cross bar with a great 25 yard effort and Ben Green smacked the rebound high and wide. Witham almost immediately broke and they also hit our cross bar with a good effort. With two minutes left Witham grabbed the equalizer with a poor goal from our point of view. A long punt upfield caught us out and we let the ball bounce and their forward outpaced us well to make the game level at 2-2. This thought wasn't the end of the action as right from our kick off we played a ball into the Witham penalty area and Kev Mann headed the ball across the goal and Ben Spencer ran past a defender to head home but was adjudged offside. So the game ended 2-2 and looking back was probably a fair result with Witham certainly causing us a few problems for the second time this season. Next week we host Stanway Reserves and with 6 games left we certainly need to win all of these to put pressure on Braintree at the top of the table.
Brantham - 1.Tom Williams. 2.Ben Spencer. 3.Scott Cooke. 4. James Lonmg (1 goal). 5.Kev Mann. 6.James Turner. 7.Ben Green. 8.Alex Street. 9.Lee Willcox (1 goal). 10.Ben Sparrow. 11. Adam Thompson. subs - Allan Merchant, Ross Cooper and Danny Garrad.
(thanks to Nathan Burrell for another good report - --barry felgate---)
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