After a break of a couple of weeks, the Clarets returned to League action with an away game against Maldon Saints. After some heavy-ish rain in the early hours of Sunday morning the pitches at Promenade Park were wet and sticky underfoot, although at least it wasn’t that cold or windy.
With grey clouds starting to gather overhead, the teams showed their respect for Remembrance Sunday with a perfectly-observed minutes silence and then it was game on.
The first few moments of the game were evenly matched as Maldon sought to stamp some authority on the midfield, and the Clarets shook off the rust that had accumulated over the last couple of weeks. Early attempts by Ben Tufnell and Christian Simioni were readily deflected by the sharp-witted Saints keeper but it wasn’t all going the Clarets way - both teams were getting their fair share of quick breaks into each other’s final third only to fall foul of their opponents defence or the linesman’s flag.
Gradually though the Clarets ramped up the pressure and the first real chance of the game came on 14 minutes with a burst of speed from Matthew Nicholls on the left hand side carving a route through the Saints midfield. His cross was directed towards Thomas Ellis but the two were destined not to meet in a controlled fashion and the chance was lost.
Just three minutes later however, and after another burst of speed, Matt Nicholls found himself in the penalty area unmarked and in possession. He quickly fired off a shot that took a deflection off a Saints defender and into the back of the net. 0-1.
Maldon restarted play quickly but the goal had cleared the last traces of cobwebs away and the Clarets started to show a little more consistency. Shots from Ben Tufnell, Thomas Ellis and Christian Simioni all followed over the next few minutes. The home side were giving as good as they got with a similar number of breaks that saw Aaron Haley called into action on more than one occasion as Maldon found routes through.
With six minutes of the first half left to play, Matt Nicholls once again exploited the left side of the Saints defence and bypassed their keeper to leave himself with a simple pass into the goal to make the scoreline 0-2.
Even though there were only a couple of minutes left to play there was still time to create more chances. Tom Clayton executed a great recovery of the ball off the Maldon goal line and sent a cross into the penalty area that Christian Simioni hit on the volley, only to see the ball pass just over the bar. And with only a minute of the half left to play, Tom Clayton took a throw to the feet of Christian who passed the ball back to Tom who then crossed it over to a waiting Matthew Nicholls who wasted no time in claiming another goal. 0-3 at half time.
The second half started with both teams keeping up the pace. Seconds after kick-off Benjamin Davidson ran the ball down the right wing and crossed it towards Josh King who couldn’t quite get the ball directed goal-wards. Just a moment later Benjamin turned his mark in the penalty area and passed the ball to Matthew Nicholls who took a shot only to see the ball smothered by the Saints keeper. The Saints were quick to respond, creating two chances of their own in the next two minutes – the latter a great shot from outside the area that I think everyone thought was going in but actually passed just over the bar.
And so the half continued. Both sides seemed happy to trade possession for chances and the defensive trio of Harrison Rackliff, Brad Holder and Isaac Campbell found themselves being called upon frequently to chase down Maldon breaks, although now they were doing so with a degree of confidence that perhaps eluded them in the first half. Maldon continued to press but one way or another they were unable to capitalise on their chances.
At 13 minutes a free kick taken by Tom Clayton went straight to the feet of Josh King in the Saints penalty area and he neatly turned and put away the Clarets 4th – 0-4. Maldon responded with another co-ordinated attack, only to see their shot pass just wide of goal. Moments later they were frustratingly denied another chance by the post. Bringing on a pair of fresh defensive legs in the form of Connor Boyle only served to frustrate them more.
With 27 minutes played, Josh King saw another shot pass just wide of the Saints goalmouth, but the final word came from Ben Tufnell, who in the final minute of the game took the ball almost the full length of the pitch and finished with a confident strike that was only ever going one way. 0-5.
Man of the match: Matthew Nicholls, a great all round performance