Crondon Hall Stars continued their uncanny knack of meeting Boreham on an off day at the Recreation Ground as The Clems' title aspirations took an early blow. The home sides 1-2 defeat was the third from three against a team many would consider inferior to Dale's boys. One or two notable absentee's didn't help the pre match preperation but it was the players on the park that failed to perform as hopes of maybe competing for the league took a massive hit in only the second game of the season.
Player Manager Ad Dale continued in the sticks behind three of the same back four that kept a clean sheet last time out, with Coleman replacing Bigland (demoted to flag duty) at left back, with Stammers, Tom Wright and Chittock all as they were. Last weeks MOM Hopson continued on the left, Jon Wright and Ansell retaining the central births with the only change in midfield on the right hand side with Jay Dale dropping back to replace the absent Darren Ince. Dale's centre foward spot was taken by returning skipper Ryan Ince with Rush as his partner...No wait! Rush & Joughin AWOL at kick off, meant veteren club legend and crowd favourite Parkhurst came straight in up top with Ince, perhaps a little unprepared and with a lack of match sharpness. A wobbly looking Joughin arrived 10 minutes into the game to take his place on the bench but speculation continues reguarding the whereabouts of Mr Rush who was last seen leaving the football club at kicking out time the previous night, the manager and his No. 2, Dale & Joughin are refusing to comment on the situation and suggest they intend to deal with the matter internally.
It was a drab start to the match, and the pace of the game never really picked up thereafter, with chances few and far between for both sides. Even Crondon's dangerman Phil Wheaton looked uninspiring and the game was there for the taking for Boreham if only they could get out of first gear. The front pairing of Ince and Parkhurst struggled to make an impact as service from midfield was lacking in quantity & quality, with the only notable half chance of the first half falling to Parkhurst at the far post, unfortunately the moobed marksmen had swapped his head for a fifty pence piece and the ball sailed 10 feet over the bar. Crondon then made a breakthrough on 35 minutes as a poor back header from the usually composed and assured T Wright allowed the opposition in and Boreham went into halftime one down.
The second period offered little improvement and although Parkhurst was clearly working hard to lead the line and offering a good target for the out ball, the midfield looked less than overly keen to get foward in support and so Bigland was brought on down the left to offer some energy and enthusiasm. The Ginger Winger nearly made an imediate impact with a good first touch beating his man before a rasping drive unfortunately staight down the throat of the opposing keeper. Boreham were perhaps begining to have more posession and Ince cut the ball back for Parkhurst who had used all his experience to take up a good position on the edge of the penalty area only to see his technique go walkies, and the ball came down in the Main Road with a sprinkling of snow on it! The Clems continued to press for an equaliser but were looking slightly toothless in the final third and it took a clumsy foul on Ince by the steady looking Crondon keeper to give the referee no choice but to point to the spot. Midfileder Paul Ansell stepped up and side footed home for 1-1 with 25 minutes remaining.
Joughin then replaced a rather red faced and short of oxygen Parkhurst for the final 20 minutes but Boreham never kicked on after the equaliser that should have been the shot in the arm that would inspire victory. Instead of pressing on, Boreham climbed back into their shells and an obvious lack of motivation to win the game became apparent. The Clems were then deservedly hit on the break as sloppy defending contributed once again to Crondon's winner with 15 minutes to go. Heads were down as the last quater of an hour were played, mostly in the Crondon half, but with barely a decent cross or shot to show for the terratorial advantage. Desperate disapointment was plastered all over the faces of the Boreham players as the ref called time on an uneventful 90 minutes and much improvement is required next week and for the entire season ahead if the Clems are to challenge for silverware in this their third season together.
Next week offers a chance of revenge for last seasons Cup Semi final defeat at Woodham Radars and nothing less than a good performance and result to match will be enough to keep the circling vultures in the local media from questioning the capabilities of manager Dale and his underperforming team. In the post match press conference, Dale quoted 'That was a f*****g shocking shower of s**t, we played like c***s from start to finish...not f*****g good enough! If I had eleven other w*****s to bring in none of them b*****s would get anywhere near the F*****g starting eleven next week...C***S!!'
