It was a bitter sweet weekend for village class legend Paul Parkhurst as the curtain looks to have came down on an illustrius career spanning over 20 years. It was perhaps fitting that such a large crowd had congregated on the side lines to witness the occasion and although it wasn't a classic, it was a good old fassioned sunday league encounter on a mud bath of a pitch between Boreham FC in their centenery year and the newbies from the Queens Head trying to claim the local bragging rights over their established counterparts.
The Clems were not at full strength by any means with experienced winger Ali Smith being signed on at the last minute to join Joughin on the bench. Darren Ince had taken a knock the previous day and felt he needed a crotch leading to wispers that he might actually be a little girl. Thomsett felt that playing golf was more important his teams biggest game of the season and will no doubt be summoned into the managers office for a serious taking to regarding his commitment to the cause. Bigland is out until Christmas, and other notable asbentees include Hawthorne, Winger, Hopson and Rutter.The starting line up remains fairly consistant however, with Coleman, Stammers, Tom Wright and Chittock in front of Ad Dale. Skipper R Ince, Ansell, and J Wright in midfield with Rush and J Dale playing off Parkhurst up top.
Pre match preperation wasn't ideal with one or two turning up around 10 minutes before kick off looking a little worse for ware, and the management team were less than impressed that their opponents appeard to be more organised and up for the game. Dale gave his men a serious teamtalk reminding them of the importance of what was about to take place, and that the crowd had come to see a good performance with nothing less than a win being acceptable. Although the Clems started as favourites with the Rams playing only their third competative fixture, Boreham were certainly not over confident and infact you could sence a little prematch tension in the home sides ranks. Max Castledine was a certainly considered the Rams main threat but they were largely an unknown quantity and clearly very much up for the game.
The first ten minutes saw Boreham on top playing their patient possesion football but the conditions were making it very difficult to play a slick passing style with the pitch cutting up badly as the game progressed. It was clear that Boreham were not going to pass their opponents off the park and that it was going to be a tough test with the Rams defending well from the front, and with an obvious height advantange were certainly going to be a threat from set pieces, including any throwins within 30 yards of the Boreham penalty area with both the Castledine brothers more than capable of launching a dangerous delivery from the sidelines.
There were few clearcut chances with the only limited success coming from direct balls to Parkhurst with Rush and Dale feeding off him. One such ball foward came on the half hour mark with Parkhurst chasing the ball into the corner and all of a sudden the end was nigh. Many of Boreham's starting eleven were still wearing pampers when Parkhurst first pulled on the Boreham colours, but less than 24 hours after his bullet header saw the saturday side progress in their cup tie, the infamous far corner dip got the better of the in form target man as the beef rope went ping. The player himself later suggested he may have momentarily exceeded his top speed of 9 MPH. It was obviously a surprise to many in the record crowd that such a finely tuned athlete would succomb to a muscle injury in such a devestating manor and one or two onlookers struggled to hold back the tears (of lafter) as he lay spawled face down in the mud clutching the back of his leg spelling the end of his playing days.
Joughin replaced Pakhurst taking up a deeper role leaving Rush and Dale up front. It was Joughin who registered the only shot on target in the first half after Ansell spotted his well timed run from midfield. Unfortunatly, Joughin didn't give himself the best angle as he bared down on goal and struggled to connect his shot well out of the sticky mud leaving the keeper unsure if he should pick up the apparent backpass. The only other chance fell to Rush who blazed over with his hurried shot from 6 yards out.
So nils at half time and it was clear that Boreham had it all to do in the second half if they were going to progress. The Rams were perhaps showing Boreham a little too much respect in the first period and they were clearly told this by manager Bloomfield at the break. The second half was a little more open than the first with the visiters breaking with more regularity, and looking increasingly threatening as the pitch continued to deteriorate and legs started to tire. Ince was the pick of the midfielders for Boreham with J Wright managing to keep Castledine quiet but both defences were looking solid with two assured keepers coping well with the difficult conditions. Rush had another half chance but mistimed his close range header fom Dales cross as Parkhurst looked on from behind the goal perhaps wondering if he could offer Rush some arial coaching now his playing days are over.
The breakthrough came with 20 miutes to go as Joughin and Rush won the ball between them near the center cirlce, Joughin turned, travelled and waited for Ince to make his run before sliding it through the defence. It looked as though the keeper would win the race to the ball but the Rams centre half needlessly wiped Ince out leaving the referee no choice other than to point to the spot. Ansell stepped up confidently and despatched his kick into the corner despite a very good effort from the QH stopper to keep it out. There was a sence of relief among the home fans with large fractions of the travelling support unhappy with the awarding of the penalty. However, video evidence later confirmed that it was indeed a wreckless challenge with only one possible outcome.
Ince then went very close to making it two with a sweet strike from 30 yards that was still rising as it took a layer of paint off the bar. The visiters pressed on for the final quater of an hour in search of an equaliser. Castledine went close with a well struck half volley fom 20 yards, and they then went even closer hiiting the outside of the post with a shot from an acute angle. That was as close as either side came thereafter. Smith replaced the injured Stammers for the last ten minutes and the Clems saw the game out much to the delight of the army of fans.
It was a very close game and the visiters may feel they would have had a decent chance in extra time should they have found the equaliser, but Boreham felt they had just about edged the game overall and that a 1-0 scoreline was probably the right one. The Rams were certainly a solid looking outfit and if they can keep that side together week in week out, maybe the Boreham derby could become a regular league fixture over the next few years. Both sets of players and fans alike were in good spirits as they watched back the footage after the game and whilst the Clems have the bragging rights for now, the noisy nieghbours can take a lot from what was a hard faught close encounter enjoyed by the masses.
It is more cup football next week as EKB of Harlow come to the Rec in the Essex County Trophey. Dale will hope to have one or two players back pushing for places as he looks to reach the 3rd round of the competition in successive seasons.
