Town welcomed Manford Way to Love Lane on Saturday in one of only two games to survive the weather.

For the second game running Town got off to a dream start when they opened the scoring in the first minute. Polley slid a ball inside the left full back for Lee Humphrey to run onto: he made his way to the inside of the box, looked up and slid the ball across for Davey Armstrong to slam home from close range for his first of hopefully many goals for Ongar Town 1-0. Town continued to dominate the early stages of the match and played some lovely possession football. Manford Way were unable to get any foothold in the game and stand in keeper Rob Newman was untroubled. Their main danger man was kept very quite and as the game progressed was completely marked out of the game by an incredibly disciplined defensive performance by Nicky Evans who curtailed his natural attacking instincts to do a magnificent job for the team. Mid way through the first half for some reason Town abandoned their so far successful possession game, grew impatient and started hitting far too much long ball leaving Davey Armstrong, who had started superbly when the ball had been played into his feet, chasing far too many lost causes. As a result Town squandered possession far too easily and Manford Way were allowed back into the game and the remaining minutes were "nip and tuck" with neither team creating any clear cut chances. Half time arrived with Town still a goal to the good.

The opening phase of the second half was fairly even. Going forward Town didn't look particularly dangerous and when Manford Way attacked they run into a brick wall in the form of Jeater, who was again magnificent, Ready who looked to be back to his best and the returning Mark Neal who after a slow start after returning from injury settled down and made an impressive return. In midfield youngster Brad Merrick had another solid game and with him and Andy Allen providing a solid base it left Brez the freedom to roam and he used this space and freedom brilliantly and "ran the show" in the second half. After 20 minutes Graham Jeater broke up yet another attack, looked up and exploited the space in front of him; on and on he went until he reached about 25 yards from goal when he unleashed a powerful right foot shot that nestled in the top corner for a quite magnificent goal and rich reward for a player who has been quite outstanding in the last 4 games - 2-0. With Brez passing and moving for fun and Andy Allen and Brad providing a solid base Town looked to be in control but then with 13 minutes left they sloppily gave the ball away and Manford Way took full advantage and scored to reduce the deficit - 2-1. As usually happens in these situations Manford Way gained the ascendency and Town started to panic a little and the final minutes were a bit tense and blood pressures were raised accordingly as the ball ping ponged around the Town penalty area. However, due again to some magnificent resolute defending and after a couple of scares Town held on for another vital 3 points. The game was soured in the final minutes when Polley, who had already been cautioned was shown another yellow card this time for time wasting when to quote the referee word for word he "took seven seconds to take a corner" - I will leave you to draw your own conclusions as mine will get me in trouble. Unluckily for the ref this creative piece of refereeing was witnessed by most of the league hierarchy.

El Col