Gorleston 2 v 3 Hadleigh United

Saturday 29th October 2011
Eastern Counties League Premier Division
Emerald Park, Gorleston
Admission: £5.00
Programme: £1.00
Attendance: 140
Match Rating: 4

Very reasonably priced train tickets motivated me to venture into deepest East Anglia with a long daytrip to the east coast.In all honesty, there was nothing particularly attractive about the game itself, between two seemingly average teams at county league level, however I have always found that the Eastern Counties League compares very favourably in terms of quality on the pitch as well as the organisation and interest off it to what I am used to at the same level in the south-east corner of England.

Having spent some time in the pleasant town centre and on the seafront of Great Yarmouth, I then made my way south by bus along the coast to Gorleston-on-Sea, a four mile journey taking just under half an hour, with the Emerald Park ground, home of Gorleston, about a five minute walk from James Paget Hospital. For a club that has never played at a higher level than the Eastern Counties League, the ground is remarkably impressive, and would not look out of place at least in the Ryman League Premier Division, although it also has to be said that it is not particularly attractive and has little character. The ground is continuously enclosed with corrugated iron around three sides and has two or three rows of seating. Along the remaining length of the pitch is hard standing, mostly uncovered apart from a small tarpaulin covered area, together with tea bar and various other small buildings. The ground certainly has a neat, uniform look about it, all painted in the club colours of dark green. Indeed, it is not just the stadium that was impressive - there is a friendly feel around, it is clear that there are plenty of persons working pro-actively behind the scenes to give the club a professional feel, and much effort - in a non-imposing way - is made to guide people towards the bar, tea bar or club shop - itself an impressive element for a club at this level of football. The efforts to maximise matchday revenue should be commended. All in all, the club has the strange feel of a club two or three tiers higher in the pyramid, but has not apparently had the ambition on the pitch to get there. Programmes were available on entering the ground, and is one of those that promises much but delivers rather less. It certainly has an attractive cover and layout inside, and all of the essential stats and facts are covered, but it does lack something to make it an interesting read - adverts, it does not lack, though.

Today's match would be between two teams stuck firmly in mid-table. Considering that this is Gorleston's first season back in the top flight of the Eastern Counties League, having won the First Division last season, they have made a very solid start to the season, in seventh place in the 21 team league, and certainly came into this game bang in form, having won their last four matches in a row, and six of their last eight games, a run which included wins against the current top two teams in the league, Dereham Town and Wroxham. Today's visitors, Hadleigh United, have not started so well, and found themselves in 14th place in the league.

On a bright, sunny late October afternoon, the game had an explosive start, with just over a minute played, Darren Cockrill almost gave Gorleston a dream start, with a 22 yard pile driver thumping back off the crossbar. This certainly seemed to hand the initiative to the home side though, as they had the better of the opening exhanges, and duly took the lead on 13 minutes, when a quick passing move towards goal culminated in Mitch Forbes slotting home. It only took the visitors seven minutes to get back on level terms though, when a free kick from wide close to the byline was firmly headed home by Oliver Canfer. Hadleigh United soon followed that up with another goal just three minutes later to take the lead, when a fairly tame cross into the box should have been easily claimed by the keeper Elliot Pride, but he juggled it, allowing Stuart Joplin to head home. On 36 minutes, Gorleston were back on level terms, when Hadleigh failed to clear the lines and allowing Christy Finch to score with a low shot into the corner in a crowded goal area. The 2-2 scoreline remained as the referee blew his whistle for half time and was a fair reflection of the game.

After an entertaining, topsy-turvy first half, the second half was something of a disappointment, with not much urgency and few goalscoring opportunities. Although Gorleston attacked with vigour in the first five or so minutes of the second half, as the half wore on, Hadleigh dominated more and more, and on 71 minutes, Hadleigh went back into the lead when a good quick move resulted in a fierce shot by full-back Chris McLaughlin which beat the keeper from a tight angle inside his near post into the top corner from about 12 yards. A deserved lead, which they comfortably held on to, as Gorleston faded badly and never looked likely to mount any further serious attacks.

FC Clacton 3 v 0 Kirkley & Pakefield

Saturday 5th March 2011
Eastern Counties League Premier Division
Rush Green Bowl, Clacton-on-Sea
Admission: £6.00
Programme: £1.20
Attendance: 87
Match Rating: 3

Continuing my recent unintentional trend of visiting seaside towns which would be far more pleasant during the summer months than on the dank, drizzly early Spring days I chose, during my weekend's stay in Clacton-on-Sea I took in the Eastern Counties League Premier Division match between FC Clacton and Lowestoft based Kirkley and Pakefield - the first ever match between the two clubs in Clacton.

The Rush Green Bowl is located about a half hour walk west of Clacton rail station, and is a surprisingly pleasant venue - surprising in that it's not a scenic ground nor has any particular traditional charm, but it is spacious, located in a bowl with grass banks around two thirds of the pitch and has some unique character about the place. It was slightly surprising to note the roadside board advertising the match still states Clacton Town - FC Clacton's predecessor club which ceased to exist in 2007 - as do various other signs around the ground including the entrance sign to the clubhouse. As one enters the ground from a corner behind one of the goals, there is a modern bricked clubhouse to the right set beneath the pitch. Between the clubhouse and the pitch, there is just hard standing. Behind the other goal is a modern metallic stand covering flat standing area, along one side of the pitch is a stand offering three wooden steps for seating. Along the other length of the pitch is mostly hard standing, except for an interesting little stand called the Bus Shelter - needless to say, that's what the stand resembles - and the authentic bus stop sign attached to the stand is a nice little touch. Just the unique bit of character which can make County League grounds interesting to visit. This stand is also where the passionate fans of FC Clacton congregate, and indeed, their regular vociferous chanting support of the team was mightly impressive for a County League game. The grass banks also make for a good, elevated view of the action. FC Clacton won the Eastern Counties League Programme of the Year award last season, and they certainly seem to have maintained those standards this season. At £1.20, it costs more than the average County League programme, but with a minimum of advertising and all the information you could want - penpics of both teams, extensive current news and history of the club, plenty of interesting articles to read and all of the required stats and facts, this was a very good programme which was excellent value for money, both for regular and occasional spectators.

It's fair to say there's not much left to play for either side this season, with FC Clacton in 13th place in the 22 team league, with Kirkley and Pakefield five places better off, but by only five points and with Clacton having played a game less, so these were two seemingly evenly matched teams. FC Clacton were in pretty poor form though, having only claimed a win and a draw from their last six league games. Today's visitors had won their last two games, but lost their two previous games. Coincidentally, both FC Clacton and Kirkley & Pakefield had both lost away to Leiston in their last league game - although there's no shame in that, considering Leiston are running away with the Eastern Counties League this season. When the two teams met in Suffolk in the league back in November, FC Clacton secured a 2-0 win.

On a cold, overcast day with occasional misty rain, with this match attracting FC Clacton's second lowest attendance this season, the home side started the game very much on the front foot and fully deserved to take an early lead on three minutes when a cross was headed towards goal by Ray Turner and Luke Coleman headed past the keeper with his back to goal from 8 yards. The home side continued to look the more threatening throughout the first half and missed some glorious chances to extend their lead, whilst the visitors barely posed a threat, and it was something of a surprise that FC Clacton went into the interval with just a one goal lead. In the second half, the game was much more even, and although FC Clacton started off the second half quite strongly - fluffing two one-on-one situations in quick succession, one screwed horribly wide and the other unluckily hitting the post, Kirkley and Pakefield then became the more dominant force for about 20 minutes, for the most part without really looking like scoring although Clacton's keeper needed to stay alert with several routine saves, and they were left to rue not being able to create chances when Clacton scored a second goal on 85 minutes when Luke Coleman calmly lifted the ball over the keeper in a one-on-one situation for his second goal on his home debut after being put through by Lee Peacock after he drove forward from deep inside his own half. A couple of minutes later and the visitors had an excellent chance to pull a goal back but an excellent strike by Toby Kerslake from outside the penalty area struck the crossbar, and then with just about the last kick of the game, Clacton secured a hugely flattering 3-0 scoreline as well as the league double over Kirkley and Pakefield when Martin Calver displayed good composure to control the ball and then loop it over the keeper and into the net from the edge of the penalty area.