On a bright and crisp Autumn Sunday morning,Bergholt Heath Under 8s came up against local rivals Eight Ash Green. It was the visitors who stole a march on their hosts and within a minute found the back of the Bergholt net. Bergholt then settled down and enjoyed some possession of their own but EAG were much stronger and scored another 3 before half-time – the fourth goal being the proverbial “30 yard screamer” into the top of the net. The second half was a repeat of the first half with the visitors scoring early on and then going onto score another 3 to make the final score 0-8. Credit to Bergholt for never letting their heads drop. Well played to Eight Ash Green on their win.
Due to the odd number of teams in their league, the Under 10s were the spare team and therefore had a free weekend.
Slightly later in the day – and later than expected with the previous game going into extra time – the Under 14s got their (short lived) Essex County Cup campaign going away to Writtle Minors from the Chelmsford League. Bergholt started brightly and within the first few minutes had 2 or 3 good opportunities to open the scoring. Writtle were camped deep in their own half and their only thought was to boot the ball long and hard to their 2 speedy front mean to chase. From one such clearance Writtle won a corner when their left winger crossed for the Bergholt defender to steer behind. Unfortunately from the corner, Bergholt were slow coming out after the ball had been cleared and this left the Writtle striker an easy task of poking a hopeful ball into the net from the edge of the 6 yard box – with a defender playing him well on side – still watching play from almost his own goal line! The remainder of the half saw play return to the previous pattern but the Writtle goalkeeper seemed to have magnets in his gloves, the amount of times the ball went straight into them! A half time talk by the manager sent Bergholt out with even more determination and again the Writtle goal was living a charmed life. In desperation to find an elusive goal Bergholt switched to 3 at the back for the last 10 minutes, but still shots were either off target or within reach of the ‘keeper. In the last minute, with 8 of the Bergholt players camped in the Writtle half probing for a goal, another long ball out of defence saw the under manned Bergholt defence split, the left winger chasing the ball down and curling a shot into the roof of the net as the Bergholt defender desperately tried to close him down. Final result: Writtle 2 – 0 Bergholt Heath. Bergholt Heath ‘man of the match’: Oliver Sanderson
The Under 18s were also away, but in league action, to Maldon Saints, and came away with a good 3-2 win. the Bergholt goals came courtesy of Jake Heap, Jack Lugar and Alex Enright.
Next weeks’ fixtures – Sunday 21st October:
- Feering Falcons v Under 8
- Under 10 v Colchester Athletic, KO 11am
- FC Clacton Blues v Under 14
- Under 18 v Maldon Saints, KO 2pm