STATISTICS

Date: Saturday 23rd December 2023
Kick-off: 3pm
Competition: Essex Senior League
Venue: West Street
Attendance: 55
Starters: Daniel O’Donovan, Brad Rowland, Shaye La-Rose, Jack Folan, George Forrest, Fahad Nyanja (C), Jack Dickinson, Karl Kayembe, Luke Hirst, Anthony Martin, Sam Dowridge
Substitutes: Henry Hart, Joshua Fisayo, Ruben Marques, Presley Evans, Warren Kayembe
Substitutions:
64′ Kayembe (W) for Martin
77′ Hart for Rowland
77′ Fisayo for Dowridge
78′ Marques for Hirst
78′ Evans for Dickinson
Goals:
Hirst 31′ 1-0
Hirst 76′ 2-0
Kayembe (K) 89′ 3-0
Yellow cards: Dickinson
Red cards: None

REPORT

NINE IS THE MAGIC NUMBER

Barking secured a comprehensive victory against basement club Coggeshall Town by three clear goals as nine was the magic number: we moved up to ninth place, Luke Hirst’s two strikes took his goal tally for the season to nine and the win extended our unbeaten streak in league and cup competitions to nine games. 

This was also the first time we had left West Street with a victory having lost three of the four previous visits.

With Ben Lane suspended, Daniel O’Donovan took his place in goal and Warren Kayembe, brother of Karl made a debut appearance off the bench. 

The first notable chance came in the third minute when Tony Martin found Sam Dowridge, whose shot narrowly missed the target. On 11 it is Dowridge again as he starts a move by finding Shaye La Rose who gets the ball across the box to Dowridge who side foots his effort off the post with the rebound failing to find a Barking player. After some home pressure Martin forces a throw in, which he takes himself and eventually the ball finds Jack Dickinson who fires wide, on 29 from a free kick George Forrest rides his luck to keep hold of the ball and his shot is just wide.Two minutes later Barking took the lead after a Coggeshall defensive blunder, following a free kick for offside home keeper Aaron Cassie kicks the ball against Luke Hirst, offering an easy scoring chance and Hirst duly capitalised by putting Barking ahead. 

The Blues continued to control the game from that point and went in at half time with a single goal lead.

The second half saw Barking content to sit back and absorb pressure, allowing Coggeshall to have more of the ball and demonstrate the solid defence we have come to expect in the last two months. The Blues do turn up the pressure but there was not a telling cross or pass that can be seized on to increase the lead. The ideal opportunity arrived on 76th minutes when Coggeshall’s Theo Duffin was penalised in the box for a shirt pull on Luke Hirst, the Seed Grower was then shown a second yellow card followed by a subsequent red one meaning an early exit from the game. Although Cassie guessed right and saved Hirst’s penalty, the ball did not travel far enough away from goal and Hirst made no mistake with the rebound to double Barking’s lead.

Following the second goal Barking made four substitutions, introducing fresh legs and young blood against the ten men of the home side. On 88 Warren Kayembe gets through after some good inter play but his shot is blocked by Cassie and the ball bounces back his waiting arms. Just a minute later Henry Hart’s throw-in finds Warren Kayembe who lays the ball off to brother Karl Kayembe, his first effort is blocked but he manages to wriggle free with the ball and his shot is buried low into the ball net for 3-0.

Three minutes into added time Warren Kayembe has the ball in the net but he is flagged offside, a few minutes later the final whistle goes to make it a satisfactory end to the calendar year.

We now enter our Christmas break and look ahead to the next fixture on January 6th against Woodford Town at the Lawtech Stadium.

Report source: Terry Gilbert/Barking FC

Please note that the opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, nor should be attributed to Barking Football Club.

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