East Thurrock United v Concord Rangers – LIVE

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Look, let's face it, I'm great. I just don't let it show in any way, shape or form on either the Brighter Breakfast or any sports reports.Posts by the author (66) in Sports News | 0 comments

East Thurrock United  4-1  Concord Rangers

Thurrock  1-1  Salisbury City

Stansted  1-1  Bowers & Pitsea

 

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FULL TIME  And the curtain comes down on a cracking evening’s entertainment.  You have to feel for Concord, having three shots cleared off the line.  No doubt that East Thurrock United deserved the win, with the goalscorers outstanding, but the margin of victory is somewhat flattering.  That’s football though.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this evening’s jolly japery.  Until the weekend, enjoy yourselves, and your football.

Injury time – GOAL! ….. EAST THURROCK UNITED 4,  Concord Rangers 1  Life is cruel.  So is football.  So was Kye Ruel with his run on the right, on the break.  His low centre found SAM HIGGINS and he whacked in a low shot from about 12 yards.  Cracking goal but so unfair on the Beach Boys.

87 mins – GOAL! ….. THURROCK 1,  Salisbury City 1  Oh yes, get in there!  A late, late equaliser for the Fleet.  On the back of goals like this seasons can be revived.

84 mins – Nothing to watch here at the moment.  Huffing and puffing but not blowing the house down.  We’re instead gossiping about Graham Roberts and Tony Currie, though I’m not sure how we got onto the subject.

79 mins  As Brian and I argue over who said Concord deserve a goal first, yet another goalbound shot is somehow cleared off the line.  Nobody even saw the Rocks defender pop up either.  I think it must have been the shopkeeper from Mr. Benn who saved the Rocks that time.

76 mins – Another Beach Boys run at goal, a shot from the edge of the area, but it’s easily saved by Richard Wray.  Credit to the visitors, not only have they not given up, they’re playing the better football and creating chances.  They deserve a goal.

72 mins  Another corner for Concord on the right, Harry Elmes rises to head the ball goalbound, but I’d hesitate to say it was another clearance off the line as there were plenty of Rocks defenders between the ball and the goal line.

70 mins – Sam Higgins disposesses the Concord rearguard, bears in on goal on the left, but Andy Young is equal to the task and saves well.

Attendance:  A very healthy 182 braving the mild spring-like Rookery Hill elements for this deby match.

65 mins – Concord come forward, and from a corner on the right, a goalbound header is cleared off the line.  Another goal for the visitors would make this very interesting indeed.  Squeaky bottom time, that’d be, for all involved.  And for those of us impartial, so much fun to watch.

60 mins – GOAL! ….. EAST THURROCK UNITED 3,  Concord Rangers 1  A pivotal couple of minutes, this.  A corner on the right, the far post is left unguarded, and KYE RUEL again has the simplest of tasks, this time to nod into the Bus Stops End goal.  Not exactly liquid football but the Rocks won’t care.

58 mins – GOAL! ….. EAST THURROCK UNITED 2,  Concord Rangers 1  Ooh, not sure what happened there.  A break down the left, a centre into the box, there seemed to be little danger with a couple of Concord defenders there to guide it away from KYE RUEL, but somehow they failed to do so, and he shot home from 6 yards whilst on the floor.  Calamitous goal for Concord but, on the balance on play, deserved for the Rocks.

54 mins – A nice run by Sam Higgins on the right hand side isn’t closed down as he runs inside the area.  He dithers, though, and the Beach Boys dispossess him before he even has a shot.

52 mins – First substitution of the evening for Concord.  Sherwin Stanley replaces Ashley Miller.

49 mins – Kris Newby runs menacingly towards the Beach Boys box (which sounds mildly crude) but Steve King puts in a super tackle to dispossess and clear things up.

46 mins – Early Rocks pressure results in a free kick.  From that a Sam Collins shot from just outside the area narrowly misses Corringham Social Club.

8.49pm – KICK OFF!  Ooh, it’s gonna be a good ‘un.

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HALF TIME  A very watchable first half.  The home side, as you would expect from any home side in good form, have had the better of it territory and possession wise, but Concord, as you would expect from an away team on good form, have looked dangerous themselves.  This could go any which way.  But loose.  Time for a tea and a Twix.  Laters chaps and chapesses.

45 mins  Oh what a miss!  Schoolboy error from the Concord centre halves leaves Greg Cohen clear on goal just inside the area but his tame shot goes wide of the left hand post.  Football pie crumbs down the front of his shirt, that.

43 mins – Corner to Concord on the right.  Again a Beach Boys head gets to it first, and for a moment there’s panic, but no visiting player gets inside the six yard box and the danger passes, to the mild frustration of the healthy visiting support.

40 mins – GOAL! ….. Thurrock 0,  SALISBURY CITY 1   More bad news, predictably, from Ship Lane.  The high flying visitors take the lead and the Fleet are ran aground again.  I’m beginning to run out of bad puns to try to raise a wry smile for them this season.  Still, only one goal, plenty of time to turn it round.

37 mins – Corner for Concord on the left.  Goes to the edge of the area, a Messi-esque flick from Stokes, which Wray does well to get down to.  Some very decent football in amongst the endeavour and commitment.  And f words from Covo.  I like it here.

32 mins – The home side sweep downfield, though, and a shot from the edge of the area hits a Concord defender’s foot and rebounds off what may have been his hand but looked like his body.  The home fans appeal, though, and routinely abuse the ref for waving play on.  Chortle.  Warming up nicely amongst the crowd now as well as it being a decent match on the pitch.

31 mins – Concord try to respond, and a good swift punt upfield sees Tony Stokes momentarily look like bearing down on goal.  Keeper Richard Wray, though, comes out and comfortably clears.

28 mins  As you can imagine, the equaliser has re-energised the Rocks, who are putting together some nice, slick passing.  No end product.  Much like my school reports and workplace reviews down the years.  Ho hum.  At least I care a bit about this though.

23 mins – GOAL! ….. EAST THURROCK UNITED 1,  Concord Rangers 1  Striker!  Another free kick, this time central and 30 yards out.  SAM HIGGINS hammers into the bottom left hand corner of the Manorway End goal.  He must have a foot like a traction engine and we have a real game on our hands here.  Hurrah!

21 mins  A carbon copy reply from the Rocks.  Aprt from the free kick being on the right, not the left.  And near the bye-line, not midfield.  But Simon Peddie did head over unmarked at the far post.  Bang on journalism there.

19mins  That was dangerous from the Beach Boys.  A free kick wide on the left came in, and Steve King was unmarked at the far post, but his header was off target, rising over the bar.

16 mins  Although having said that a brief bout of handbags breaks out which the ref does well to sort out quickly.  Meanwhile, my leggy assistant Brian continues to take mini-videos of the ‘action’.  He’s keen – and has nice legs, you know.

13 mins  There really hasn’t been much to it.  The ball has been a a-pinging and a-ponging like a pingy-pongy thing in the middle third.  Lots of shouting, lots of effort, competitive without being niggly.

8 mins – GOAL! ….. East Thurrock United 0,  CONCORD RANGERS 1  A goal out of nothing.  Tony Stokes does well on the left, he puts in a low centre, and ASHLEY MILLER taps it in from inside the six yard box.  Game on already!

5 mins – Nice play down the right from the Rocks, which ends in a shot on the edge of the area that Beach Boys custodian Andy Young does well to parry clear.
3 mins – A possible handball in the Concord penalty is quickly turned down, then play switches upfield towards the Bus Stops End.  Richard Wray has to come outside the right hand edge of the area,near the bye-line, to clear.

7.48pm – KICK OFF!  Oh yes!

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7.44pm – The teams come out to a wave of apathy.  Must be something to do with these warm winter nights.

 

7.40pm – Team News:   East Thurrock United go with:  1 – Eichard Wray  2. – Ryan Sammons.  3 – Tom Stephen.  4 – Ben Wood.  5 – Simon Peddie.  6 – Reiss Gilbey.  7 – Kris Newby.  8 – Sam Collins.  9 – Sam Higgins.  10 – Petrit Elbi.  11 – Greg Cohen.

Concord Rangers go with:  Young, White, Robinson, Cowley, King, Tafazolli, J Elmes, Lee, Miller, Stokes, H Elmes.

7.35pm – No team news as yet, so a quick look at elsewhere.  In the Essex Senior League, Bowers & Pitsea have yet another tough task away at Stansted.  In the Conference South it’s a similar case for bottom side Thurrock, who have a tricky game at home to FA Cup heroes Salisbury.  Still, just one win can ignite a season, so how knows?

7.25pm – Good evening, one and all, to an unfeasibly mild Rookery Hill for this evening’s intriguingly poised clash.

Less than a month ago this would have been a Ryman Premier relegation six pointer but a remarkable turnaround in both clubs fortunes have seen them both move up into the realms of mid table comfort.

The Beach Boys will be full of confidence after reaching the Essex Senior Cup semi final and coming through unbeaten over Christmas and New Year, including a fine derby win at Canvey and a decent draw against then leaders Billericay Town.

The Rocks, though, are just as ebullient.  Unbeaten in 9, and having won five games on the trot, Covo’s side even have an outside chance of a play-off challenge if they continue winning their games in hand.  Safety, however, is what they are looking for first and foremost, making sure they don’t run before they can walk.

It promises to be a spiffing evening’s entertainment and you won’t miss any of the main action.  Just keep refreshing this page every few minutes, and tune into Mark Hardie’s 90′s Revival on 97.8 FM or here on the interweb, and all shall be revealed.  Including the meaning of life.