La Chiesa slipped to a second conecutive defeat at West Ham Park on Sunday, but the ten
men who wore the famous red and black shirts can be proud of their performance, coming within a whisker of snatching a point.
AFC Dockside had a 100% record coming into the game, and following
the hammering Chiesa suffered at the hands of Barking Colts last week, club officials were expecting a show of mettle from
the Rossoneri this time. Disappointing then to have John Riley, Dean Jordan and Terry Soteriou unable to make it, while Steve
McCarthy was on holiday. Darren Hodsoll hadbeen ruled out for a month with ankle ligament damage, and when Adam Jeffers withdrew
from the starting eleven with a troublesome achilles, Chiesa were left with just nine fit players... Benny Gillham was called
out of retirement to make up the numbers, but that still left Chiesa a man down... gaining three points here was to be an
arduous task...
Dockside enjoyed the greater share of possession in the opening
quarter of the game, but Chiesa were defending stoutly and showing the odd sign of fluent passing when they did get the ball,
albeit on one the bumpiest pitches in the league. Iain Gay could have given Chiesa an early lead against the run of play,
but his deft lob just failed to dip in time. AFC missed a great chance on twenty minutes when a forward put the ball
wide from a matter of inches, but they didnt have to wait long to take the lead. A free kick was conceded on the edge of the
visitors penalty area, and when Danny Hardwick fumbled the shot, A Dockside forward was first to the rebound and the home
side had the lead, and soon it was doubled. When a long ball over the top caused confusion between Hardwick and Dennis
Peck, and the ball rebounded off the bar, Chiesa were odds on to be two down
only for Peck to clear off the line for a corner. The inevitable
was merely delayed though, as poor marking allowed the Dockside skipper free rein to head home from eight yards.
Rossoneri followers were fearing the worst, but almost immediately
the deficit was cut in half. A neat one two in the centre circle allowed Gay to beat the offside trap and this time he made
no mistake. Chiesa were back in the ball game! Five minutes before half time and the visitors were level. Peck, Warren Hardwick
and Colin Williams exchanged passes as Chiesa built slowly from the back, before Mark Harris released Cy Taylor on the
right, and when his cross was only half cleared, Gay was on hand to unleash a twenty yard volley into the roof of the net.
The scores were level, and Chiesa had five minutes to hang on until the break.
Unfortunately, that was four minutes too long. Another needless
free kick was conceded on the edge of the area, and Docksides number sixteen, who had been impressive throughout, curled a
beauty of a free kick into the very top corner, three-two...
Going in at the break a goal down was hard on Chiesa, and they
were told so in no uncertain terms by the coaching staff. As AFC were producing Team America style huddles on the far side,
the Hornchurch outfit trundled onto the pitch determined to claw their way back into the game... less than a minute later,
they looked out of it....
Again, confusion reigned in the Chiesa penalty area, and as
the ball was allowed to bounce, an AFC forward darted between Peck and the two Hardwicks to make it four.
Amazingly this seemed to inspire Chiesa and they created numerous
chances in the remaining forty four minutes. The first of these fell to Jonny Gray, and he made no mistake to reduce the arrears
yet again following excellent work from Taylor and Gay. Chances for both Gillhams, a near post volley from Taylor, as well
as a half chance for Peck came and went, before Dockside wrapped things up in the final five minutes. Peck was lucky to escape
a red card when unceramoniously dumped AFC's forward on the deck when he was clean through, but the penalty that followed
was calmly stroked past Hardwick and Docksides two goal cushion was restored.
Again it was not to last long. Directly from kick off an
audacious attempt sailed over the Dockside keeper and into the net for 5-4, but it was too little too late for the Boys from
the Church of the Horn, as they were to lose by the odd goal in nine.
The result may have been wrong, but the spirit and
performance was right, and should they be repeated for the rest of the season, Chiesa should be competing for a promotion
place come May.
LCDC; (4-4-1) D Hardwick; Harris, Peck, W Hardwick,
Williams; Taylor, B Gillham, Gay, Gray; M Gillham
