Match Report, Buckhurst Hill 0 Coggeshall Town 1,
19th March 2024. Essex Senior League, Premier Division.

With five of their regular players missing, playing for Chelmsford, a much-changed Coggeshall team faced the Stags. Coggeshall kicked off and went on the attack straight away, but Max Nicholson put Lewis Francis effort out for a throw in. The Stags were awarded a dubious penalty in the fifth minute as two opposing players met in a harmless coming together. There were no appeals for the penalty and the referee took some time in awarding it. Justice was done as Henry Clark’s right foot spot kick was brilliantly saved by Dev Bhamra by diving to his right, and deflecting the ball onto the woodwork and although Clark was first to react to the rebound, he put his left footed effort well over the crossbar. Nathan Dennis tried to set up a chance for Roy Stevens, but an awkward bounce beat him, and it was cleared. Leandro Sain won a corner, which resulted in Francis, firing into the side netting. James Pugsley, Stevens, and Harry Lloyd combined well down the right, but Pugsley’s cross was cleared to safety.

A Stags attack saw George Thompson forced wide and his attempted cross was put out for a throw. A long ball to Timmy Moncur brought a brave save from Bhamra, who was injured in the process, and the ball went for a goal kick. Alex Reed in the Stags goal did well to save a Kyan Gulliver free kick after Stevens was fouled. Bhamra came out to the edge of his area; Thompson got to the ball first and hit his shot over the bar, when it looked easier to score. Francis struck the post from a free kick after Sain was fouled. The Stags had the better of the time left in the half, Clark and Josh Banfield put the ball wide, but the miss of the half occurred just before the break, a through ball to Josh Samuels had Bhamra coming out to get to the ball first, colliding with Samuels and the ball ran loose to Moncur who shot wide of the empty net.

Half time: Buckhurst Hill 0 Coggeshall Town 0

Coggeshall brought on Giseldi Marashi to replace Ross Elsom, who in his own words said ‘I was having a shocker.’ Bhamra was soon in action, making saves from Alfie Harris and Thompson. On 52 minutes Coggeshall took the lead, Leandro Sain cut in from the left and hit the ball low past Reed and into the net, which stunned both sets of supporters, as this was Coggeshall’s first goal for five matches. A Gulliver free kick was scrambled away, but from then on Coggeshall played on breakaways as the Stags pushed forward. Bhamra saved efforts from Samuels and Clark, and then in a breakaway, Reed saved at the feet of Francis.

The Stags brought on fresh legs with Marcus Marku and Victor Umeh replacing Clark and Samuels. Umeh soon tested Bhamra, as did Nicholson, but he kept them out. In a brief Coggeshall attack, Reed saved at the feet of Sain and a long shot from Francis. The Stags brought on more fresh legs, and the first touch from one of them, Cameron Weekes, shot wide of the goal and Marku’s long shot was too strong for anyone. On 83 minutes, Reggie Pegrum replaced Francis for Coggeshall. Marashi was shown the yellow card for kicking the ball away, when the Stags were awarded a free kick. Coggeshall were forced to make a change on 88 minutes when Arthur Massingham replaced the injured Marashi. A dangerous cross from Banfield was nodded back to Bhamra and no one could get to Marku’s long cross. Sain won a corner and Coggeshall tried to play out time in that corner, unsuccessfully. Five minutes into stoppage time Coggeshall replaced Sain with Ciaran Burke and play went on for another five minutes.

Full time: Buckhurst Hill 0 Coggeshall Town 1
Attendance 85