HORNCHURCH 2 GRAYS 1 - from behind the goal

[Dagger03]

Monday 15-April-2013 – Essex Senior Cup Final

GRAYS 1 HORNCHURCH 2

Played at Dagenham & Redbridge

 

GA – Lamar Johnson – Craig Pope – Lee Flynn © - Junior Baker – Ryan Kircy – Danny Bunce (Joe Sweeney 75) – Kenny Beaney – Jack West (Brian Moses 81) – Jaoa Carlos – Leon Lalite – Jared Small (Daniel Subuola 81)

Subs – George Kamurasi – David East

 

HFC – Joe Woolley – James Love – Alex Bentley – Reiss Noel – Elliot Styles © - Michael Spencer – Tambeson Eyong (Simon Glover 81) – Frankie Curley – Martin Tuohy (Wayne Gray 87) – Lewis Smith – Chris Bourne

Subs – Luke Sawyer – Jake Piper

 

Scorers – Small 61 (GA) – Smith 62 (H) – Smith 78 (H)

No bookings

Officials K Yeo with A pope, J Whittaker and A Crysell

Attendance 1052

Duration 46.00 + 48.00

Weather – cloudy, 10 degrees, wind speed 5 mph

 

GRAYS 1 HORNCHURCH 2

 

Hornchurch were without Joey May, who was starting a three match suspension, Billy Coyne and Rickie Hayles were both cup-tied, and Kieron St Aimie was not eligible to play.

 

Hornchurch were allocated the Pondfield Road end of the ground and a large and very vocal contingent gave Hornchurch continuous support, supplemented by a more refined volume of support from the much smaller south east stand, which was opened to accommodate Hornchurch followers who wanted to pay on the night, and which was full to near capacity.

 

Grays, who had won all of their last sixteen matches, settled down quickly, and Hornchurch had an early scare when Jack West slotted a pass through the defence, forcing Joe Woolley to save at the feet of Jared Small.

 

Grays won a corner in their next attack, and Kenny Beaney sent the ball over to Jaoa Carlos whose first time shot was turned out by James Love for another corner. This time Woolley rose high to catch the ball as it came over into a packed goalmouth.

 

Lewis Smith was the creator of Hornchurch’s first sortie, sending Chris Bourne away on the left, Bourne’s centre being deflected out by Craig Pope for a corner.

 

It was Smith again who set up the next move, when his deep cross eluded everyone and was played out for a corner on the left, which then became a corner on the right when Bourne’s centre was palmed over the bar.

 

Smith again, taking a pass from Frankie Curley, weaving through, but hitting his shot wide of the goal.

 

Play had now settled into a pattern, as Grays had lost their initial momentum and were forced to defend against an increasingly dangerous Hornchurch forward line, with Lewis Smith very much prominent in most of the moves.

 

It was Reiss Noel who set up a good opening for Martin Tuohy, who cut inside the defender and towards goal, before being tackled and winning a corner. Bourne played the ball short to Smith, and thence to Tuohy, whose first time shot went wide of the goal.

 

Smith twice won corners, one with a run along the left, and the other with a similar run along the right.

 

As half time approached, Grays again came forward, and Bentley had to play the ball out for a corner, which was played deep and firmly headed away by Frankie Curley.

 

Hornchurch kicked towards their own supporters at the Pondfield Road end in the second half and Martin Tuohy missed a great chance to open the scoring when he fired over the bar from close range. Had the ball gone into the net, Grays would have justifiably had complaints, as Tuohy was offside and had also handled the ball.

 

Frankie Curley was prominent in the next sortie, when Lee Flynn was forced to concede a corner, and shortly afterwards it was Chris Bourne who raced along the left wing, before crossing, the ball being headed out for a corner which was taken by Lewis Smith and swerved into the centre for Lamar Johnson to catch.

 

Grays were now coming under heavy pressure and their defence got into a minor panic when James love took a long throw in, the ball being headed on and into the goalmouth and eventually being scrambled out for a corner, which this time was taken by Michael Spencer.

 

Chris Bourne then won the ball close to the half way line and set off on a solo run, which ended with a shot that was directed too high and over the bar.

 

And after most of the play had been confined to the Grays half of the pitch, it was Grays who took the lead when they broke down the right flank and the resulting centre found JARED SMALL ideally placed to apply the finishing touch.

 

The lead lasted for less than thirty seconds. With Grays still congratulating themselves on the goal, LEWIS SMITH powered along the right, turned inside and fired his shot past Johnson and into the net.

 

Hornchurch now threatened to overwhelm the Grays defence, and Smith could possibly have done better when he tried a repeat performance along the right, only to this time hit a left footed shot wide when Martin Tuohy was better placed to receive a pass.

 

Michael Spencer opened up the Grays defence with a good through pass to Tuohy, and Johnson saved well.

 

A goal seemed certain to arrive, and it was LEWIS SMITH who obliged, with another solo run along the right, and he again homed in towards goal before firing the ball past Johnson.

 

Tambeson Eyong almost created an opening for Tuohy, but his cross was cleared up field, and Simon Glover then replaced Eyong, with Wayne Gray coming on for Tuohy.

 

Just as three minutes of stoppage time was announced, Grays had the ball in the net from a left wing cross, but the flag was up for offside, and Hornchurch comfortably kept the ball inside the Grays half for the remainder of stoppage time.

[cup of tea]

Who are Luke Sawyer and Jake Piper? Are they youth players?

Think their No 9 was a tad fortunate to escape a booking - not a dirty game though.

[Dagger03]

Luke Sawyer and Jake Piper are both youth team players.

 

The number nine (Jack West) was twice spoken to by the referee - on four minutes for what can best be described as a late tackle, on I think Reiss Noel. He then made one other for which the referee gave a free kick, and two minutes later he was again spoken to by the referee for a third offence. He was not booked, somewhat surprisingly.

[Dagger03]

Correction - the attendance was 1053 (not 1052)

[Hornchurch "O"]

How many of us?

[Dagger03]

>>>How many of us?

 

I don't know how many tickets were sold from Hornchurch, but the stand to the right of where you were standing / sitting was the pay-on-the-night entrance for Hornchurch supporters, and it was just about full - that stand holds 200, and the stand behind the goal holds 1200. Interesting to note that all seats were numbered but the stewards told everyone to sit where they liked. It was the same with the car park, where you were helpfully told 'park where you can'.

 

Grays were allocated the area to the right of the directors box - I am not sure how many that section of the stand holds - the entire stand holds 800, so I would guess that the Grays section had a max. capacity of four to five hundred. The Grays web site has a small report on the match and it claims that they had seven to eight hundred supporters there - that claim is considerably optimistic.

 

One other comment - the volume of applause given to the Grays team by the HFC supporters behind the goal was very impressive, and judging from the reaction of the Grays players, it was also greatly appreciated by them.

 

 

For anyone interested, Hornchurch used the home changing room.

[cup of tea]

So it's 800 for Grays, take off 100 for neutrals, we only had 150 fans there??. I think not somehow.

.

[Miss.A.F.C.Hornchurch]

theres a little piggy flying in the sky....

[aka PeteBeatz]

Looking at the way supporters were celebrating the goals I would say it was about even 500 or so each.

[Eastside Urchin]

I reckon

375 urchins

374 grays

The rest made up of comps/grays/hx

Until they scored I thought they had loads more but only the end section of that stand celebrated and showed all the neutrals

[Dagger03]

Grays say they had 800 so it must be correct (even though their section only had a 400 capacity) - there were 100 neutrals and 100 comps - so HFC must have had 53 supporters behind the goal and none in the packed stand (capacity 200) at the side which we all thought was for HFC pay-on-the-night.

 

Judging from the noise, the 53 appeared considerably louder than the 800 - and we also have to remember that the 53 was in fact 52 as Rob had by the time HFC scored lost his voice.