Essex Senior League

Peter Butcher Memorial Trophy

Preliminary Round

Wednesday25th September 2024

Kick Off 19.45 Actual 19.52

Athletic Newham 2 Halstead Town 4, attendance 27

9’ 0-1

45’ 1-1

60’ 1-2

74’ 2-2

80’ 2-3

87’ 2-4

@ Bobby Moore Sports Hub, 3G Pitch 1

Parsloes Park

Terrace Walk

Dagenham

RM9 5PU

£7 Admission

No Programme.

I’d been to a game here at Bobby Moore Sports Hub back in January, when I saw C.S.M. London host F.C. Baresi in an Essex Alliance League cup match. That match was played on Pitch 2 (the middle of three parallel 3G pitches here), but tonight was an opportunity to see a game on Pitch 1, which is the main ‘stadium pitch’ here. It is the one nearest the hub building and changing rooms and has four separate areas of cover. There are two 76 seated kit stands as well as a couple of sections of covered standing, both comprising of four steps. It is good from a spectator view point too, as unlike many caged set ups, there is access on three sides (just the right hand goal end out of bounds) and the dugouts are placed on the side not occupying any of the covered areas. As well as being home to Athletic Newham (Step 5), it also hosts May & Baker (Step 6) and a number of games in the Essex Alliance League (Step 7). There is a decent cafe here too, accessible before going inside the cage, where there is a good choice and very reasonably priced.

Tonight’s game was a cup match, but as far as league positions go, it was 10th versus 18th (out of 20) in the league table. Halstead took an early lead, courtesy of an own goal, in a very open game that was end to end for the entirety. Athletic Newham had a man sent off two minutes before halftime, following a foul in the centre circle, as Halstead tried to break quickly, but they still managed to draw level in the dying seconds, finishing with an angled shot into the far corner that the ‘keeper got a hand to. Halstead were back in front on the hour, forcing the ball in after two blocked shots and they nearly added a third soon after, but it came back off the post. Newham equalised for the second time with sixteen minutes left, when a pull back across the box was controlled before being finished into the bottom corner from twelve yards. Halstead regained the lead for a third time with ten minutes left, touching in a ball across the face of the goal at the far post, before making the game safe when they added a fourth in the closing minutes, scrambling in at the far post after a corner wasn’t cleared. Excellent game and full credit to Newham, as it was never obvious that they were playing with a man short for more than half the match. Typically, for games in this area, it had kicked off seven minutes late and it didn’t finish until 21.49.