Last Saturday, the Seedgrowers travelled down the road to the Simarco Stadium as we took on Witham Town for the three o’clock kick-off. The game started off very much 50/50 as neither side was able to make any major impacts against the opponent, with Witham’s explosive wingers causing a bit of trouble for Coggeshall’s back four. Debutant Rob Swaine suffered an injury just 15 minutes in which made a sour ending to his short Seedgrowers first appearance, making way for Milo Grimes to fill in for the defender. Shortly after Suaibo Balde put the home side in front as he broke through a seemingly surprised Coggeshall defence to make the scoreline one-nil.

Cafer was quickly forced to make a diving save as Witham’s new found drive saw a number of powerful shots to be sent in the direction of the Coggeshall shotstopper. The Seedgrowers found their footing again as a well placed cross met the head of Jermaine Francis, who met the ball at an unlucky angle, sending it over the bar. Throughout the remainder of the half, Gipson and Cocklin received cautions as the home side continued to press in the final third. We ended the half down at the break, as we looked for an equaliser going into the final fourty-five minutes.

The second half commenced, and the Seedgrowers appeared to have improved drastically from the first half, as piercing runs from Jermaine Francis and some great attempts from our front line made hard work for Witham, as with half an hour left, Sam Bantick fired a bicycle kick like shot into the top left corner of the goal, leaving Witham’s goalkeeper with no chance of saving the impressive strike.

Fortunes turned for Coggeshall as the tempo of the game appeared to flip, with some fantastic attempts on goal putting the home side under some serious pressure. Francis was ruled offside as he walked the ball into the goal. A number of substitutions followed throughout the half as both teams were in need of some fresh legs. Tariq Issa made room for Isaac Skubich who was a new addition to the attack. Witham had a number of players cautioned, namely one challenge on the edge of box awarding the Seedgrowers a particularly advantageous position for a shot. Ayrton Coley stepped up to take the opportunity, but unfortunately tipped the ball just over the frame of the goal. The game finished with a one-all draw as we shared the points travelling back to West Street.