Bowers & Pitsea vs Aveley FC 2018

Bowers & Pitsea FC vs Aveley FC

 

Tues 17^th September 2018

Len Salmon Stadium

This game was scheduled to be played earlier in the season but was postponed to allow Bowers to finish installing their new 3G pitch – ironically they have been playing their early home games at Parkside.

Getting to the ground was no problem – straight up the A13 to the Pitsea turnoff and then a mile or so through the town. The stadium has its own car park but we arrived 45 minutes before kick off and just managed to get a space. There is plenty of parking on the roads surrounding the ground however.

Admission was £10 for adults and FREE for under 16’s 

The programme was priced at £2 and was 20 pages printed on good quality glossy paper which included 4 full pages of adverts. No details were included for the players of either team which was disappointing. 

 

Plenty of away fans in the ground which I estimate made up about 40% of the total official attendance of 117

Next up was our quest for a pin badge to add to Sam’s collection. No obvious club shop but an enquiry by Pauline at the turnstiles led to a nice lady rummaging in her sports bag for a box of badges. A nice metal badge with the club creast cost £3 which is the cheapest we’ve seen so far.

As it was an evening game and we’d already had our tea before leaving home I sort the views of Peter on the quality of the food. "Well cooked and tasty" was the verdict and the cheeseburger was priced at £3.50 and the chips at £1.50 – all served in a polystyrene box.

The bar was situated outside the ground which meant you had to get your hand stamped to allow readmittance to the ground.

We treked off to the goal that the Millers would be attacking only for the teams to change ends after the toss – cue mad dash to the other end.

Millers Line Up:

1. D.Hughes
2. J.Love
3. S.Mvemba
4. C.Witherspoon
5. H.Gibbs
6. S.Cross
7. M.Milner
8. F.Gard
9. T.Richardson
10. A.Freeman
11. A.Akrofi

Subs C.Bourne, G.Doyle, T.Martin, A. Teniola, S.Ngandu

Kick Off.

8 – PENALTY to Aveley, Akrofi weaves into the area and is brought down right in front of the referee. GOAL  - Akrofi steps up and scores from the spot  - Bowers 0-1 Aveley

15 – GOAL – Hughes makes a save from a long range shot but the rebound is followed up by David Knight– Bowers 1-1 Aveley

21 – Great save from Hughes to deny Cory Davidson

25 – Another save from Hughes from the head of Manor

30 – Milner has a run at the Bowers defence but pushes his shot wide of the upright

35 – Another chance for Bowers but Knight’s header is wide

39 – Aveley break but Rambo’s shot is saved by Andrew Wilton in the Bowers goal 

HT – Good first half sees both teams go in all square

46 – GOAL – Andy Freeman hits an unstoppable shot into the top corner from range on the left – Bowers 1-2 Aveley

51 – Long kick upfield from Hughes and Akrofi fires wide

53 – GOAL – Hughes fails to hold on to a cross from Quentin Monville and Lewis Manor smashes home for the equaliser – Bowers 2-2 Aveley

57 – GOAL – long throw from Monville is flicked over Hughes and into the goal from Callum Leahy Bowers 3-2 Aveley

67 – Manor has a header deflected out and from the resulting corner Stokes heads wide

74 – SUB – Corey Davidson replaced by Jamie Dicks for Bowers

78 – Avely break is brought to a halt with a cynical foul from Max Cornhill who gets a well deserved yellow card

81 – Akrofi’s shot is saved by the feet of Wilton

83 – SUB – Mvemba and Milner replaced by Doyle and Teniola

90 – Header from Teniola is tipped round the post by the Bowers keeper

90 – SUB – Knight replaced by Nyanja for Bowers

3 minutes of added time 

90+2 – GOAL – Akrofi heads home to send the travelling fans wild behind the goal – Bowers 3-3 Aveley

90+2 – SUB – Richardson gives way for Shad

Final Score:  Bowers & Pitsea 3-3 Aveley FC

Great result for the boys – I think we would all have settled for a point before KO but the nature of the stoppage time equaliser makes it feel like a victory. Aveley go 3^rd in the league table on goal difference.

Journey home was disrupted due to maintenance work on the A13 leading to a magical mystery tour via Corringham but even this couldn’t dampen our spirits on the slightly longer journey home 

Next up is the trip to Soham Town Rangers this Saturday. Gutted we can't be there but we’ll be ready to go for the game next Wednesday away to Romford 

Come On You Millers!