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Errors in judgement lead to score draw
For my next two games, I decided to visit a couple of clubs which play in the Essex and Suffolk Border League. The first was a midweek trip to the picturesque Suffolk village of Glemsford which lies midway between the larger neighbouring towns of Clare and Sudbury. Famed more for its thatched cottages and period archetecture than its local football, the place is one of extreme beauty and wealth.
The little-known football club shares its facilities with cricket at the Community Centre. The footballers of Glemsford & Cavendish have however gained a local reputation of sorts this season - as the Essex and Suffolk Border League's whipping boys. Currently lying at the foot of the First Division table, the side have only gained a handful of points and conceded over fifty goals so far this campaign. And so with only two home games remaining and staring relegation in the face, the club cannot wait for it all to be over.
Visitors Bradfield Rovers (from Manningtree) obviously feel that they have a good chance of improving their goal difference and begin the game taking far too many risks. A sloppy piece of goal-keeping is punished when a Glemsford head knocks the ball goalward and into the empty net. Rovers now realise that they have a fight on their hands and after a period of sustained pressure the equaliser comes. A quickly taken free kick beats the offside trap and a diving header finds the back of the net.
The second half is a srappy affair and with the light fading come two more goals. The visitors take the lead from a corner which is converted from close range. The hosts start to lose hope as they find themselves once more in the . role of runners-up. And then the referee has a 'senior' moment. With the game virtually over a long clearance is received midway between the edge of the visitors' area and the half-way line. Before the teenage forward has time to turn he is unceremoniously scythed down to the ground. The ageing official who by now is all but spent and desperately trying to keep up with play, waves his arm towards the goal and awards a penalty! Amazingly he is still standing on the half-way line!!! As expected a large melee follows with the poor official somewhere in the thick of it. Close-by the injured player is still squirming around on the floor and receiving very little sympathy for his predicament. Eventually help is administered, tempers calm down and the penalty is converted. It is almost dark and with 107 minutes having elapsed on the stopwatch, the final whistle eventually signals the end. The players don't quite know how to react but as they leave the field of play generous spirits soon return as they shake hands rather than exchange blows. It has been quite a remarkable game!
The site is found behind a Community Centre with a tidy changing pavilion to the right of the car park. The main pitch is beyond the lovingly maintained cricket square on the far side of the field. Another pitch runs at right angles to this where the land drops down a slope to another level. Behind the goal to the right are some cricket nets. Amazingly several youngsters wearing whites were using these for practise. How they could see the ball in the fading light was a mystery and it was sheer luck that no-one was injured!
Programmes are not normally issued by clubs in this division (Mersea Island are the only exception as far as I know). Although refreshments are usually served from the pavilion for matches played at the weekend, sadly none was on offer during the evening in a game which attracted only fifteen fans!
FGIF Rating: 1* | 