Match Report, Halstead Town v Coggeshall Town,
16th March 2024. Essex Senior League, Premier Division.

Halstead’s best league attendance of the season, 512 plus 7 dogs were at Rosemary Lane for their 75th anniversary, to the day, of playing there, and Coggeshall were their opponents then.

A disastrous start for Coggeshall, as Conor Tyrell missed his attempted headed back pass to Dev Bhamra and Harry Pinkney nipped in to lob the keeper after two minutes. Coggeshall won the first corner of the match, but it was cleared with a long ball, which Bhamra came out of his area to clear. Halstead were having the better of the play and had a corner on 14 minutes, which went directly in the Coggeshall net taken by Joel Holder. Ciaran Burke and Alfie Gilbey both leaped for the ball, clashing heads. Gilbey came of worst and had to be substituted by Ross Elsom.

Lester Ward tried to set up Nathan Dennis, but his shot was wide of the target. Then Reggie Gregory and Ward combined well but only won a corner, from which Demmy Nicolaou’s shot was high. A Ward cross was claimed by Halstead’s keeper, Jack Cherry, before Gregory could get to it. A Halstead long throw was cleared, but only to Scott Sloots, who turned and shot low into the net to give the home side a three-goal lead. Ward put Burke clear on the left but there was no one there to pick up the cross. A Giseldi Marashi clearance struck Pinkney and sent him clear, but the defence manage to get back and clear to safety. The half ended with a goal kick following Older’s attempt which was high.

Half time: Halstead Town 3 Coggeshall Town 0

Coggeshall made a substitution before the restart, Lewis Francis replacing Marashi. A series of Halstead long throws were scrambled clear early in the second half. Five minutes in a Coggeshall long ball to Dennis saw him fouled by Robbie Bennett, and as he was in the last line of their defence, he was immediately shown the red card for denying a goal scoring opportunity. Halstead sacrificed Joe Maybanks to bring on a defender in Ben Young. Dennis tried to set up Francis, but he was tackled, then Francis passed back to Ward, and his cross-found Finn Wilkes but his effort went wide of the goal. On 59 minutes, a Halstead attack saw Tyrrell bring down Older in the area and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Although Bhamra dived the right way, he could not prevent Kane Gilbert from scoring.

Bhamra was soon in action again, saving a shot from Older and diving at the feet of Gilbert. With slightly less than a half hour remaining and a four-goal lead, Halstead replaced Jordan Palmer and Pinkney with Adebow Adeyemi and Dylan Carpenter-Flack. An Elsom free kick was headed clear and a Francis cross to Gregory saw him miss the ball completely as it bobbled on the bumpy pitch, but it found Dennis, but Cherry saved his effort. On 83 minutes, Coggeshall took off Gregory and brought on Tayo Adedoja. Coggeshall had the better of the remaining minutes without success. Cherry made two very good saves to thwart Dennis, caught a Adedoja cross under his crossbar and made a good save by diverting his shot for a corner. The referee called an end to proceedings after five minutes of stoppage time.

Full Time: Halstead Town 4 Coggeshall Town 0
Attendance 512