Saturday 23rd March 2025 ko 15:30

Essex Senior League

LITTLE OAKLEY 1 (Harris 37og)

Papple sent off (violent conduct) 90+1

STANWAY ROVERS 2 (Okoye 41 Maycock 45+1)

Chatting sent off (violent conduct) 90+1

Att 111

Non-League Day “Passport” £30

Entry £6

Programme FREE

After the Benfleet game it seemed that the hordes scattered to the four winds. There were no end of options for the middle game of the three on the Essex Senior League’s Non League Day event, albeit those of us with the passports were limited to clubs within the league. For me I had two options that would represent a new ground, Little Oakley or Athletic Newham and it was fairly obvious which one I favoured.

Nothing against Newham, but I can reach there after work midweek, and the 3G pitch will act as a wet weather backup plan too! I’d been after Little Oakley for a while, not least after wet weather thwarted Chris Garner and I a couple of years ago; we ended up getting wet watching Needham Market under-23’s!

When we at GroundhopUK organize events a lot of thought goes into the Saturday’s middle game. It’s the one with the most competition for the groundhopper’s attention, so we tend to organize it so either the big draw is in this slot, or schedule a 4-game day so if someone wants to go “off piste” they have to miss two games to do so!

Again the Essex Senior League’s take on “drift” was interesting- they ignored it, with the passport allowing 6 different games, and the Little Oakley game was shuffled half an hour later to allow travel from Benfleet. It certainly gave the hopper options, but with little or no steer on numbers to the host clubs. As passport holders we were asked to put our names on a list at the entrance, presumbably to allow the club to claim their share of the gate from the league. Again there seemed to be no advantage to buying in advance, and I’d say roughly 10 people there were hoppers known to me. You could say the drift was horrendous, but then there was no nominated game to drift from!

You are in something of a footballing hotspot in this part of North Essex. Little Oakley lies close to Harwich and the likes of Brantham, Clacton and Holland-on-sea are all reasonably local too. It is an area where a club should expect to ply their trade in either the Essex or Eastern Counties Leagues. The boundary between the two is very much a movable feast.

These two clubs rather prove the point. Little Oakley were promoted into the Eastern Counties in 2017 but found their way to Step 5 in the Essex Senior in 2021. Similarly Colchester-based Stanway Rovers have played in both leagues. The difference on this day between the two sides was that Stanway have just come down from the Isthmian League and were en route to a return there. I saw a name in their line-up from the past too. I’d been impressed by Harrison Chatting playing for Billericay back in 2012 and the best I can say is that I enjoyed his efforts more 12 years ago!

The sign of a good side is that they can find a way to win even if not playing well, and this was a good example of it. Reece Harris’s own goal was unfortunate but Stanway were good enough to get two quick goals just before half time, then keep Little Oakley at bay for the second half- well other than for the ruckus that saw Jordi Papple and Chatting dismissed!