BASILDON UTD 0 HORNCHURCH 1

Tuesday 18-September-2018 - LEAGUE CUP

BASILDON UNITED  0  HORNCHURCH 1

BU - Wheatley, Mead, Worrell, Skeels, Whitby (Spooner 71), Turpin, Asamoah (Moses 45), Quadri, Bowers, Kendall (Adlington-Pile 76), Placid

Subs - Phillips, Spooner, Burgess

HFC - Chafer, Collis (Hursit 81), Bentley, Smith, Cooper, Warner, Livings, Hogan, Fairweather-Johnson, Junior (Marks 78) Coker (Purcell 90+2)

Subs - Marks, Purcell, Spence, Hursit, Clark

Scorer - Warner 25

Attendance 120

Bookings - Kendall 62 (BU) - Whitby 65 (BU)

BASILDON UNITED  0  HORNCHURCH 1

Hornchurch almost took a first minute lead, when Tobi Coker broke through, his shot being saved by Connor Wheatley.

With a strong cross wind causing problems to both teams, Hornchurch had further chances, Theo Fairweather-Johnson pulling a shot wide of the post, and Coker missing a good opportunity, firing over the bar when well positioned.

On 24 minutes Hornchurch took the lead when Bradley Warner sent in a free kick that ended up in the far corner of the net.

Hornchurch won two corners in quick succession, on the half hour. Warner went close from the first corner, and the second found Ruben Junior, whose shot came back off a defender.

Five minutes before the interval, Callum Chafer was called into action, making a comfortable save.

Two minutes into the second half, Nathan Cooper went close with a header, and  when Junior broke through, his shot took a deflection for a corner. Warner took the corner, and the ball fell to Connor Hogan, but his shot went narrowly wide.

On 53 minutes Hogan played the ball to Nathan Livings, but his shot was just wide of the goal.

Hornchurch enjoyed the better of the territorial play and Leon Smith went close with a header from a Warner corner on 64 minutes, and two minutes later a Warner free kick beat the defence but landed on the roof of the net.

On 78 minutes a Dave Collis free kick found Nathan Copper, whose header hit the post and the ball was cleared.

Sean Marks came on for Ruben Junior, and with two minutes to play he almost got onto the scoresheet when he lobbed the ball over Wheatley but a defender got back in time to clear.

As the match entered stoppage time Jamie Hursit took a return pass from Makes, but his shot drifted wide of the goal.

Less than a minute later Marks got on to the end of a Hogan cross but was just wide of the target.

That is a shocking attendance! Hope we don't go that low for games at our ground, even in that competition. Champions league probably had an impact with early games going into kick off time.

My mistake - the actual attendance was 120.

That is a big problem now Wivenhoe. EFL football down to non league competing with Sky Sports. 

I can remember Essex Senior Cup games and Athenian league Cup games being played on Saturday afternoons in front of large crowds.

Essex Senior Cup Semi Finals being played as two legged affairs along with the finals on Saturdays.

I once watched Tilbury play Wembley in the Athenian League Cup on a Saturday afternoon. Tilbury won 7-0 and that was the half time score as well.

Times change and not always for the best.

By the way Wivenhoe, Happy Birthday. 31 today !!!!   I still think of you still being at Uni.

Thanks ?