Town welcomed Epping to Love Lane on a beautiful sunny Tuesday evening. There was a lot at stake as both teams are in relegation danger so points were vital and this was a genuine “6 pointer”. After Saturday’s magnificent performance at M&B Club, Town made just the one change with Flighty coming in to midfield in place of Matt Macedo who took his place on the bench alongside Ready, back from injury, and Rob Newman back from a cruise, in the football season !!

The game kicked off and the opening 10 minutes was a fairly cautious affair with both sides anxious not to concede an early goal. Town then got a grip on the game and with Mark Neal and Flighty dominating the central midfield area and Lee Humphrey and Brad Merrick looking very solid and composed on the flanks, it allowed Headon the time and space to express himself. and my how he did so !!! Town took a deserved lead after 22 minutes when Headon played an exquisite inch perfect though ball for Jeater who latched onto it and finished comfortably by sliding the ball wide of the advancing keeper 1-0. This seemed to calm the nerves and Town went on to dominate the remainder of the first half and given the importance of the occasion played some neat and tidy football. After 25 minutes Polley played Jeater in with a defence splitting pass, he rounded the keeper and appeared to be brought down in the process but Town were denied what looked like a very good appeal for a penalty. Never mind, Town were now in control and it looked just a matter of time before they scored again – their second goal came when Headon played another magnificent through ball to Jeater who collected the pass: this time his route to goal was blocked by defenders so he checked back before hitting an unstoppable left foot shot from the edge of the area into the bottom corner of the net giving their keeper no chance, 2-0. Still Town poured forward but they had to be on their toes as the pacey Epping striker and Winger caused one or two problems on the break but fortunately Grandy, Lodgey and Dave Martin remained focused and dealt with the Epping breakaways with reasonable comfort. Headon saved his best pass of the day until just before half time when he played yet another, simply magnificent through ball to Jeater who’s resulting shot flew just wide. Half time arrived with Town 2 up and looking good.

More of the same please, don’t sit back and invite pressure but go forward with caution were the orders at half time and Town did this splendidly. They didn’t dominate the second half as they has done so in the first and it became more of an even game but Town stifled the game and it became a midfield stalemate which in the circumstances suited us perfectly. Epping’s strikers were well marshalled and had to feed of scraps and the longer the game went on the more secure Town looked although a 2 goal lead (even a 3 goal lead) is still dangerous, as we know to our cost this season. Jeater missed a good chance to complete what would have been a richly deserved hat trick when, clearly having read his managers book on how to head a ball, headed wide from 3 yards out !!! Polley was then through, one on one, but he hesitated, was closed down and missed a chance we would normally expect him to put away in his sleep. The game petered out without any major incidents at either end which was perfect and Town recorded a priceless win and 3 points in their quest for safety. So in summary a very good solid all round team performance and given the importance of the match it was played in a highly competitive but very sporting manner and for this both teams should be applauded.

Player of the match today is between 3 players, Headon, Jeater and Mark Neal. As described above Headon was quite magnificent in the first half and displayed a range of passing and vision, in my opinion unsurpassed at this level of football. Jeater’s forward play and movement was simply superb, and proved, if proof were needed, what a huge loss he has been for most of this season: his two goals were priceless and calmed Town down just when they needed it. Mark Neal gave an inspirational skippers performance and proved yet again that he doesn’t “just shout a lot”, he possesses an incredible desire to win and if you add this to the quality on the ball he has shown in recent weeks you have virtually the complete midfield player. Mark Neal just edges it.

El Col