Today's Game

[cup of tea]

First half Lowestoft caught us cold - they are well organised and had the better of it, although we did create some good chances.

Second half we were by far the better side and deserved to get something out of the game.

Ref wasn't great but certainly wasn't the worst I've ever seen.

He certainly bottled a big decision on the start of the second half however and chose to ignore a furiously waving assistant.

Would have made a big difference as Lowestoft would have been down to ten men

[Miss.A.F.C.Hornchurch]

Agree with COT.

 

First have poor defending which has let in two goals. Didnt think at first their second goal actually went in.

 

Second half we were the better side and shouldve got 1 point from this game.

 

Hopefully losing today hasnt ruined our chances of at least a play off place and a chance for a little bit of extra cash come end of the season.

As that important 5th place and possibly any thing above is all still to play for.

[Eastside Urchin]

Ref was a cnt.

Saying that,we still need to take our chances and today we were guilty of missing some very good chances.

Nothing between the two teams and to be honest i think the reaction of the two sets of players at the end of the game was down to the referees inability at making big decisions right.

Nice people the lowestoft bunch and maybe we will get them in the play offs although i expect them to go up as outright champions imo

[Dagger03]

For anyone who is interested in reading fiction, I found this on another forum.

 

Ryman Premier Division:

AFC Hornchurch 1(0)-(2)2 Lowestoft Town

Bridge Road

Admission £9. Didn't purchase programme.

 

Yes, I did get there in plenty of time in the end, despite the nightmare of parking on the fringes of London, trying to find roads around the ground which only had weekday parking restrictions, not saturdays as well. I was in the ground though at 2:50 for a game that will be noted for its ugly scenes near the end.

 

A dramatic start with Lowestoft going in front with barely a minute gone, as the Urchins defenders stood like statues as a Trawler boy ran through their defence almost unopposed to slot the ball home. A few minutes later more bad defending saw a cross from the left not dealt with, and the ball was shot home off the inside of the post from within the box. 2-0 with not even 10 minutes gone. It was looking like job done already.

 

Hornchurch however had other ideas. Though they had possession quite a bit in the first half, and their number 7 looked a real handful for the Lowestoft defence, they only had one real chance, when a free kick was played in, and two players seemed well offside near the far end of the six yard box, but the flag stayed down, and somehow one player contrived to hit the post when it seemed easier to score. Another close effort went inches wide before the half was out, as Lowestoft hung on a bit, despite having the odd chance of their own down the other end.

 

Second half it was all about Hornchurch, who really took the game to the away side, who had a really shocking 45 minutes. Their contingent of over 100 fans were getting extremely frustrated. It was inevitable that Urchins would get a goal back, and they did when a cross was poked home to halve the deficit. After that there were several chances for the home team, with balls going across goal, just wide, or the keeper saving them. Like a match I saw earlier in the season at Billericay, the Lowestoft goalie is a right old time waster, which got on the nerves of Hornchurch management and home fans, and he eventually got a yellow card for it, to the chagrin of Lowestoft supporters.

 

Despite the intense pressure from Urchins and a collapse in the quality of Lowestoft passing, they held on in the end for a win. However the match would get known afterwards for the officials...

 

The linesman had got some stick from Lowestoft supporters for missing some bad tackles flying in, and there were some nasty clashes between both sides, including a collision between two Urchins players late in the second half, which led to some treatment and the stretcher, all leading to 10 mins added time.

 

Towards the end of it, the ref was losing the plot, missing several nasty tackles, particularly on Lowestoft players, and one which he ignored led to a possible retaliation tackle with studs by the Lowestoft no. 7. This led to a mass brawl by the touchline involving the Lowestoft coaching staff, where the incident took place near to, and both sets of players. Due to the tackle an inevitable red card was shown, which angered Micky Chapman and co. Whilst the players moved up the other end awaiting the free kick, there was more pushing and shoving, as the departing Lowestoft player walked along the pitch to the changing rooms, which led to a Hornchurch player also getting red carded for raising his hands. A very unsatisfactory end, where the ref endeared himself to just about nobody by the end. Lots of boos for the ref as everyone left the pitch. Even the Lowestoft fans however were shocked at just how irate their side's managerial time were in going onto the pitch to square up to the ref, which they'd never seen before.

 

A good result in the end for Lowestoft on the pitch, especially with other results going their way at Sutton and Bury as they continue to push for a third successive promotion.

 

As for the ground, it's another athletics stadium, but a very attractive one. The previous Hornchurch played at Conf Sth level, and this reincarnation probably still has the level of facilities now to play a level higher. One side of the ground has tube trains passing in the background, whilst there are seats on the two horizontal sides (all seat on one side, then the other has some seats, a section of terracing with steep steps, and in the middle a small stand possibly for directors etc of 20 seats, looking like a bus shelter. The sides behind the goal are totally exposed around the track.

 

Arriving at the stadium, one goes down a little track off Bridge Road made of tarmac for once with no potholes(!). The car park is on the left, the turnstiles on the right. Through the stiles the stadium is on the right. Go straight on you go up the stairs past the nice ornamental plants into the very nicely decored clubhouses. No real ale, though the usual are there, plus Tetley bitter. I had a Corona for £2.50. A portacabin like extension allows one to watch all the action from the bar from high up, a perfect view. Burger was purchased with nicely cooked onions for £2.50 from the van.

 

Two other observations: firstly a very loud tannoy system around the ground that nearly blew our heads off. Secondly one stand still has sponsoring by Essex FM. Not only has this station not existed since June 2009 (now Heart), it changed its logo from the one displayed at the ground in summer 2007. It's probably been there from the time the old club was around. Just a pedantic observation.

[Eastside Urchin]

Fair enough,even a neutral thought the ref was a cnt

[urchinman1961]

gutted by that result really slow out the blocks today second half we were a totally different outfit should have got something out of this game long way to go yet pretty sure we will be there or there abouts at the end of the season trawler boys will deffo be there ,spare a thought for canvey today

[Eastside Urchin]

Gutted for canvey

[SEVEN TEARS BOY]

There was real ale, Old Speckled Hen in bottles

[Eastside Urchin]

Yeah and you had plenty,you even turned up at alices house and I had to rescue her old man from renditions of die Gary Neville which I could hear blurting down the phone when he rang me asking me to take you home