FA Vase 3rd Round
Lower Road, Hullbridge
Admission: £6.00
Programme: £1.00
Attendance: 85
Match Rating: 4
Lower Road has been my last remaining ground to visit in the Essex Senior League for over a year now, and with a decent cup tie in prospect in probably my favourite cup competition, and with the visitors being a team I watched in a rather lively encounter in the previous round, I decided to complete the league today.
Lower Road is a couple of miles north of Rayleigh train station, and armed with a £1.80 Plusbus add-on ticket, I travelled a little further beyond ahead of kick-off, to enjoy a couple of pints at Hullbridge Riverside, in two pubs opposite each other on the bank of the River Crouch and which couldn’t be more different from each other. The football ground is part of a large expanse of playing fields, spectators enter in one corner of the ground, paying at a small hut, and a long brick building extends from just outside the entrance to close to that half way line. This building houses the clubhouse, function room and changing rooms, with several picnic tables on a grass area to the front. There is little aesthetic beauty about the ground itself. Along the clubhouse length, there is a fairly tall stand covering a flat standing area by the half way line, and immediately either side there are modern metallic all-seater stands. There is a further small stand covering a flat area towards the furthest corner flag, although it does not seem to be in use. There is just hard standing behind both goals, while the remaining length is out of bounds to spectators. The perimeter is interesting – half of it has quite attractive dark brown panel fencing, behind one goal and along half a length, beyond which there are only poles standing, and behind the remaining goal there is see through hexagonal metal fencing. The programme was a really good effort, printed in colour, attractively laid out, some interesting articles to digest and more than enough stats and facts to preview the match with.
Perhaps disappointingly at this stage of the competition, this tie paired two teams from the same division, the Essex Senior League. It had been a difficult season for Hullbridge Sports so far, certainly in the league. They were bottom of the Essex Senior League, having won four and drawn four of their 20 league games so far, although following six consecutive league defeats , they have picked up four points from their last two league games and won a cup tie midweek. To reach this round of the FA Vase, Hullbridge have beaten Ilford 0-3 away, Conley Heath 1-0 away in a replay, and Wembley 3-2 at home. Hullbridge have had a very good recent pedigree in the FA Vase, reaching the fourth rounding each of the last three seasons. Enfield 1893 were in 14th place in the Essex Senior League, following six wins and two draws from their 19 league games. To reach this stage of the FA Vase, Enfield have beaten Haverhill Borough 1-0 at home, Stowmarket Town 4-5 away, Coggeshall Town 1-0 at home, and Tower Hamlets 1-2 away.
On a bright and sunny but bitterly cold afternoon, Hullbridge came closest to scoring first on 5 minutes. A defender tried the shepherd the ball out of play but Jimmy Cox managed to whip the ball into the box, and Michael Salami's powerful header forced a great reflex save from the visiting keeper. The game rather meandered along until the 23rd minute, when Hullbridge were awarded a penalty after a powerful shot from outside the area by Joe Pattison hit a defender's hand. Cox struck the ball low in the bottom right of the goal, sending the keeper the wrong way, to give the home side the lead. Enfield came close to equalising on 30 minutes when John Bricknell fired a free kick just over the bar. But for the most part, the first half was a midfield battle, and the home side retained their narrow one goal lead at the break.
The match really burst into life three minutes of the break, and set the tone for a very lively half of football, with tempers boiling over, not helped by a weak referee. Initially he awarded a free kick just outside the area close to the byline when a cross was blocked by an Enfield hand. After protests by the Hullbridge players, the referee consulted the linesman, and he then awarded a penalty instead, to provoke some really aggressive protests by the Enfield players. Eventually, Cox scored his second penalty of the match, firing into the bottom right corner. Enfield's players and coaching team really pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable, screaming and gesticulating at the referee frequently, particularly when they were denied a penalty for an apparent foul in the box. On 68 minutes, Hullbridge's keeper had to be subbed due to injury, and within a minute, Enfield saw a cross played high over the keeper, which he couldn't claim, but the ball was stabbed into the side netting at the far post. On 73 minutes, Enfield were awarded a penalty, probably inevitably following sustained intimidation by their players towards the referee, for a foul tackle in the box. Bricknell fired the ball emphatically into the top left of the net to give the visitors hope. They had further hope when Hullbridge's substitute keeper was sent off for retaliating to a late tackle, although bizarrely only one Enfield player received a yellow card for their part in a melee. Scorer of both Hullbridge's goals Jimmy Cox took over in goal, and so it was probably with some relief that they opened up a two goal lead on 83 minutes, Harry Watkins shooting the ball into the top left corner from a free kick just outside the area. But within 2 minutes, Enfield pulled back the deficit to one goal again. The ball was launched high into the box, and after a couple of attempts to poke the ball home, Luke Thomas did. Despite plenty of huff and puff, Enfield didn't really threaten to score an equaliser, and so it was Hullbridge who progressed to the last 32 of the competition. And that was the deserved outcome, not least considering the conduct of the visiting team towards the officials.
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