It doesn't get much worse than this!
Thursday, January 28
TO SAY that I didn’t enjoy my Tuesday night in Wivenhoe would be a massive understatement. From the moment I arrived in the pot-holed car park for the Premier Division match against Hadleigh United to when I left three hours later, I found the whole evening a rather depressing experience.
It is hard to believe that Wivenhoe were once one of the region’s top sides, punching above their weight as they did for several years in the Isthmian League.
The clubhouse was plunged in darkness on my arrival to the extent that I had to ask someone if it was indeed open! After subsequently acquiring my programme from the gateman I enquired where the teams would be posted only to be told that they wouldn’t be.
He kindly informed me there was only one change to the Wivenhoe side printed in the programme, although I was unable to confirm this as there was no announcement over the tannoy – another black mark – prior to kick-off. (Indeed, several minutes into the game I realised that two of the Wivenhoe players had swapped shirts from those I was given!).
I then witnessed arguably the worst half of Ridgeons League Premier Division football I have ever seen on a dreadful surface, which included what amounted to a sandpit in one area of the pitch, in near-freezing conditions.
The second half was an improvement – it could not fail to be in all honesty – but it was still poor fare for those brave souls who had ventured out, and a goalless draw was almost inevitable long before the final whistle put me out of my misery.
Wivenhoe are second bottom of the table for a reason – the club have no cash and are asking boys to do a man’s job at this level. And, to be fair to them, they deserved to defeat a very poor Hadleigh United on the night.
It was only a lack of composure in front of goal and visiting goalkeeper Arron Benstead that prevented the Dragons from recording just their second league win of the season.
Although no-one likes to suffer the pain of relegation, I think it will be for the best in the long-term interests of Wivenhoe to drop down to Division One to continue the rebuilding of the club.
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IT WAS ironic that Wivenhoe were Hadleigh’s opponents on Tuesday night, just as they had been almost four months to the day before in the reverse fixture at the Millfield.
The significance of that match was that it was to be the last time defender Mark Roper would play in a first-team game before being forced to recuperate from a bout of glandular fever. ‘
Ropes’ returned to action only a week ago on Tuesday, as a first-half substitute in the League Cup defeat at home to Newmarket, before being back in the starting line-up for the 3-3 draw against Ely last Saturday. So it is pleasing to report that ‘Ropes’ was, in my opinion, Hadleigh’s best outfield player at Wivenhoe.
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TALKING of the Ely match, it was a nice touch of sponsors T & M Sports Academy to present man-of-the-match awards to players of both teams. All too often sponsors’ award are only made to a player from the home team, which makes a mockery of it when the home team have just been hammered, no-one really deserves it and a player has to sheepishly walk forward to collect it.
Ely’s Robbie Mason, who proved a real handful for the Hadleigh defence and scored a well-taken goal, was the deserving recipient for the visitors on this occasion.
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posted on 28 January 2010 20:55 byNick Garnham
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