East Thurrock Community FC 2, Coggeshall Town 3

DESPITE showing plenty of attacking intent, East Thurrock were not sharp enough to convert a plethora of chances and, as a result, went down to another Thurlow Nunn Eastern Counties Division South defeat at Rookery Hill on Saturday (22 August).

They found themselves behind after just a minute when, from a scramble in the box, Coggeshall's Lewis Mark Wallman forced the ball home.

Rocks thought they were level on 13 minutes when Lewis Rowe hit the back of the net with an acrobatic finish but the linesman raised his flag.

However, they did equalise three minutes later when Aleem Balogun flashed a cross low into the box from the right hand side, a defender failed to clear properly and Albert Hart placed it into the bottom right corner.

Rocks had chances to take the lead, and had a penalty claim waved away when Zac Bussell went down in the box, but they went in all square at the break

The home side took momentum into the second half but couldn't convert a number of chances as the ball flashed across the face of goal and they paid the penalty on 66 minutes when a Coggeshall counter attack ended with Todd Hollocks scoring.

And five minutes later it was almost deja vu when Hollocks added his second.

Rocks didn't give up and created a number of chances that went begging.

They did get a late consolation two minutes into added time when sub Joe Callender produced a lovely finish but it was too little, too late.

Rocks' run of home matches continues next Saturday (29 August) when Brimsdown visit for another league clash.

CLUB REPORT by CLAIRE THATCHER

ETCFC 2–3 Coggeshall Town

Rookery Hill | Attendance: 145

East Thurrock Community FC suffered a narrow 3–2 defeat against Coggeshall Town at Rookery Hill, despite battling until the final whistle and grabbing a late goal deep into stoppage time.

The Rocks were dealt the worst possible start when Coggeshall opened the scoring inside the first minute. A header towards goal caused a scramble inside the ETCFC box before the ball eventually found its way into the net to give the visitors an immediate 1–0 advantage.

Tommy Barnacle was shown the first yellow card of the afternoon in the sixth minute, before East Thurrock thought they had found an equaliser seven minutes later. Lewis Rowe produced an acrobatic finish to find the back of the net, only for the assistant referee's flag to cut the celebrations short.

The Rocks did not have to wait much longer, however, and were level on 16 minutes. Aleem Balogun flashed a dangerous low cross into the box from the right and, after a Coggeshall defender failed to clear properly, Albert was perfectly placed to calmly guide the ball into the bottom-right corner.

ETCFC 1–1 Coggeshall Town.

The game developed into a busy, end-to-end contest as both sides looked to exploit the space in behind, although a succession of balls over the top were comfortably dealt with by the two goalkeepers.

Prince went into the referee's book on 34 minutes before the Rocks had a penalty appeal waved away two minutes later when Zac went down inside the area. A poor decision and a blatant penalty denied.

There was concern just before the interval when Dan stayed down following a collision with the Coggeshall goalkeeper, but the sides eventually headed into the break level with the denial of another clear penalty claim with the goalkeeper clearly fouling Dan.

Half-time: ETCFC 1–1 Coggeshall Town.

East Thurrock started the second half brightly and created two opportunities in quick succession on 50 minutes. The industrious Balogun sent another dangerous low delivery across the face of goal with nobody able to get the decisive touch, before he got onto the end of a header but could only send his effort off target.

The Rocks made their first change on 52 minutes, with Newton replacing Reeman, before Barnacle delivered an excellent cross towards the far post six minutes later. It was begging for a finishing touch, but nobody could quite get their head to it.

A second East Thurrock substitution followed on 61 minutes as Hart replaced Barrett.

Five minutes later, the visitors regained the lead. Coggeshall broke quickly and took advantage of the space before calmly slotting the ball home to make it 2–1.

Things became even harder for the Rocks on 71 minutes when Coggeshall added a third, leaving East Thurrock with a two-goal deficit to overturn.

Further changes followed as Larochelle and Sanham were introduced in place of Bussell and Prince, before Callender replaced Barnacle for ETCFC's final substitution on 78 minutes.

East Thurrock continued to push for a way back into the contest. Coggeshall's number 12 was shown a yellow card on 86 minutes for obstructing Lewis Rowe, and the Rocks' persistence was finally rewarded in the second minute of stoppage time.

Callender produced a lovely finish to pull one back and give ETCFC a final glimmer of hope.

ETCFC 2–3 Coggeshall Town.

There was no time left to find an equaliser, however, and the final whistle confirmed defeat for the Rocks.

A frustrating afternoon at Rookery Hill, particularly after recovering from the early setback to go into half-time level, but ETCFC continued fighting until the very end and were rewarded with Callender's late strike.

Full-time: East Thurrock Community FC 2–3 Coggeshall Town

Attendance: 145