Town entertained fellow strugglers Canning Town at Love Lane on Saturday in a relegation dog fight “6 pointer”. Town went into the game in confident mood after 2 successive good performances against top and second in the league over the previous 2 weeks. Unfortunately Grandy, who has enjoyed a return to top form recently after being restored to his favoured position, was missing due to family commitments but Town welcomed back Lodgey to full fitness and Flighty and Stuart Dallaway who were both missing the previous week so from a squad of 13, Flighty and Stuart started on the bench.

Town kicked off against a fairly stiff breeze and Canning Town took immediate control of the game and I have to say that for a team that had previously lost 8 games in a row they looked full of confidence and desire; were first to every ball and passed it well. Ongar couldn’t get a grip and Canning Town dominated the proceedings but the back 3 of Dave Martin, Lodgey & Ready coped with all that was thrown at them and the scores stayed level. Going forward Town posed little threat with Polley isolated and Headon unable to get on the ball and “make it happen”. After 15 minutes, a defensive lapse of concentration by young Brad, showing his inexperience, let in the Canning Town striker who fired off a shot from 8 yards out that looked a goal all the way – Chris Neal however, had other ideas and pulled off a fantastic instinctive one handed save. At the other end Headon and Polley finally combined with an excellent exchange of passes but Polley dragged his shot wide from the edge of the box. A few minutes later Canning Town took the lead when, from a corner one of their players headed home, completely unopposed from 6 yards out, 0-1. Although Town huffed and puffed they couldn’t get any kind of foothold in the game and it came as no real surprise when Canning Town scored again 10 minutes before half time, again with a header from close range after good work down their left wing, 0-2. The remaining minutes of the half passed without major incident so Town went into the break 2 down.

In the dressing room at half time, given the lacklustre first half performance, WBB went to work at what he does best of all – he made the tea for the ref and what a fine cup of tea it was, and delivered with some aplomb.

Town kicked off the second half and although you couldn’t fault their effort it was “headless chicken” stuff and nothing really happened and Town continued to be flat and uninspiring. In midfield Mark Neal, Andy Allen and the 2 young flankers Brad and Matt tried their best but it was obvious almost straight away that, although they were not out of it, this was going to be one of those days. After 15 minutes of the second half Flighty and Stuart Dallaway replaced Tony Whiteway and Brad Merrick in an effort to galvanise the troops and Stuarts efforts and strong running up front unsettled the Canning Town defence a bit but clear cut chances were still at a premium. With 20 minutes left the game was effectively ended as a contest when a Canning Town player picked up the ball wide left; he cut in and courtesy of the Ongar defence doing a passable impression of the parting of the waves scored with ease with a neat curling right foot finish – 0-3 and game over. The remainder of the game was played out in a midfield stalemate and the game sort of meandered towards the final whistle and finished 3-0 to Canning Town . This was a real kick in the teeth for Ongar but as always we remain optimistic and with big games coming up thick and fast we need to remain positive and I am certainly looking for a much better performance and the right reaction to this setback next week when we travel to White Ensign.

Man of the match this week goes to young Matt Macedo who defied his tender years and gave a mature performance.

El Col