Report

Boxted Lodgers 1-2 Coggeshall Town
Essex & Suffolk Border League Division One
2pm, Saturday 28 January 2012
Cage Lane, Boxted

A below-par Boxted Lodgers suffered their second home defeat of 2012 against Coggeshall Town on Saturday and missed out on the opportunity of moving into third place in the Essex & Suffolk Border League Division One.

It was the same starting line-up from their 3-0 away win in Gosfield a week earlier, albeit a switch around of positions between the front three, but the Lodgers clearly lacked the same desire that has seen them try to elbow their way onto the division's top table.

Cristian Manta's solitary strike for the home side was sandwiched between the visitor's goals, with the winner coming from the boot of former Boxted Lodgers man Matt Hearn.

Coggeshall were lively from the start, and were more decisive with their play as Boxted gave their opponents too much time in key areas.

Jamie Bradbury's side only came to life midway through the first half when Terry Wash looked to have breached the miserly Coggeshall defence, but he struck his shot on the stretch wide of the post. The linesman's flag was up anyway.

Chris Sturdy also came close, but failed to trouble Graham Smith in the visitors net. It was at the other end that a goal looked more likely.

First Hearn was given time to turn in a dangerous position six yards out, but his shot was deflected onto the bar by the foot of Stef Falla. Then in the last minute of the first half, left winger Luke Bearman struck a pile-driver goalwards that the impressive Graeme Clover tipped over.

More energy was needed from Boxted if they were to get themselves on top in the game, but inside four minutes of the second half, they were a goal down, once again conceding after sloppy marking at a corner.

The ball was delivered from the right and Coggeshall captain Tom Gooday rose unchallenged to head home and give the visitors a deserved lead.

But the advantage lasted just four minutes as Manta's endeavour earned him and his side a goal. With the Coggeshall back-line dilly-dallying in possession, the Romanian forward pressured them into giving the ball away. He raced clear on his own before tucking passed Smith to restore parity.

The goal may have lifted Boxted briefly, but though they worked hard, their play lacked purpose. Coggeshall responded well and almost regained the lead when a close range effort following a corner looked to be sneaking in until Clover pushed firmly around the post.

After bringing Ryan Trussler in to the attack in place of midfielder Graham McCarthy, Bradbury was forced to replace Liam Macklin himself, as the Stanway Stallion pulled up with a back strain.

And soon after the winner arrived. Another dangerous delivery from Bearman on the left was only half-cleared by Falla and the ball dropped kindly for Hearn, unmarked 20 yards from goal. He had time to watch the ball onto his foot before guiding a first-time volley into the roof of the net.

Despite their superiority in most positions, though Clover, Andy Hart and Manta did themselves justice, Lodgers almost snatched a point in the closing moments, when the strength and pace of their goalscorer once more unsettled the visiting defence.

The ball rolled into the path of Trussler, who didn't anticipate having so much time inside the Coggeshall box and his quick-fire shot from the angle was smothered by the keeper.

It was have been a very welcome, but probably undeserved equaliser. As it was, Coggeshall took the points and Boxted's chance to gatecrash the top three was blown.

"If I'm looking for positives from a performance like that, it was that we only lost by a narrow one-goal margin, and that was a screamer that on another day could have ended up in the gardens behind the goal," said Bradbury are the game."And we could have nicked a point in unlikely circumstances at the end.

 "I was also pleased with how well Hitman did, and the excellent stops made by Graeme that kept us in it on more than one occasion."

He added: "We didn't look right from the kick-off, we failed to do the simple things like closing down quickly when we didn't have the ball, or switching play when we won it back."

"It was a disappointing day as I know how well the lads can play, and have been. But it's gone now and we must pick ourselves up for what will be an even harder challenge at Cage Lane next week."

Team
Graeme Clover, Jason Gray, Andy Hart, Liam Macklin (Jamie Bradbury, 70), Steve Driver, Stef Falla (c), Terry Wash, Chris Sturdy, Cristian Manta, Elliot Walker (Josh Moon, 83), Graham McCarthy (Ryan Trussler, 65)

Goal Cristian Manta, 53

Referee Peter Hart

Coggeshall goals Tom Gooday, 49; Matt Hearn, 73