STANWAY ROVERS 2

SOUTHEND MANOR 1

Essex Senior League

A goal in each half saw Stanway Rovers record a welcome first Essex Senior League win of the season as they triumphed 2-1 at the Hawthorns against Southend Manor.

Rovers came into the game looking for their first Essex Senior League points after defeats in their opening three games.

They were sat bottom of the table and had also exited the FA Vase at the weekend after a 1-0 loss at Baldock but they held off an concerted late push from Manor to take a morale-boosting win this time.

It was an encouraging start from Rovers and with just two minutes on the clock, the ball broke and Callum Griffith charged at the Southend back line but just pulled his shot wide of the target.

At the other end, though, Manor also showed their attacking threat with an excellently-timed tackle from Regan Farley-Hearn needed to deny Nathan Dewberry a shooting opportunity.

And two minutes later, Dewberry did break clear and went round Stanway keeper Pete Haxell before rolling the ball towards goal, only for a superb covering tackle on the line by Teddy Nesbitt to keep it at 0-0.

After the initial flurry of activity, the game settled down, but it was the visitors who had more of the possession.

They almost made that tell on 18 minutes when the pace of Mo Kargbo opened the Rovers’ back line and it took the fingertips of Haxell to rob the ball off his toes to prevent the goal.

As the half progressed, the hosts started to see more of the ball and consequently began to press Southend Manor back, although chances were at a premium and Lewis Stantiall’s long-range effort that ended in keeper Connor Pearce’s arms was the closest they went.

That was until the 45th minute when Griffith put Stanway ahead in emphatic fashion.

Manor were caught in possession at the back and the Rovers striker rifled the loose ball past Pearce into the back of the net to provide the home side with a big lift at the break.

The game stayed tight after the restart, with Manor trying to get on level terms, while Pearce had to be alert to keep out a header from Griffith from a long throw-in.

However, Stanway started to stretch their visitors with some strong play going forward as they grew in confidence.

And a second goal came on 56 minutes when another long throw-in from the right was misjudged by Pearce and Romario Dunne had the simple task of bundling the ball over the line from close range.

Now trailing by two, Southend knew they had to press for a way back into the game and they almost did that on 67 minutes when Lee Delf got his head to a high ball into the Rovers box, but saw it come back off the post.

Just two minutes later, they did halve the deficit when another throw in proved effective and Dewberry was able to drill the ball past Haxell from an angle to make it 2-1.

With the visitors’ tails now up, the flow of play was mainly towards the Stanway goal and Aaron Baldwin was inches away from an equaliser when his hooked shot flew just over the bar.

There was a frantic finish as Manor kept pushing, including another Dewberry shot that went just over and another that was pushed just wide in a lengthy spell of time added on at the end, but Stanway’s hard-working defence completed the job and made sure they held on to the three points.

Stanway Rovers: Pete Haxell, Regan Farley-Hearn (Finn O’Reilly), Teddy Nesbitt, Henri Okosi, Danny Nesbitt, Charlie Webb, Marley Andrews, Romario Dunne, Toby Blanche (Marley Okosi), Callum Griffith (Harry Seal), Lewis Stantiall.

Subs not used: Jordan Sargean.

Referee: Jamie Garwood.