La Chiesa once again had Colin Williams to thank as
they scraped past Bryant to record their tenth victory from their last eleven matches.
With Bryant having won only one match so far this season, and
the LC/DC hot on the heels of the promotion pack, this was a game that the travelling army of fans expected their team to
win at a canter, but the home team belied their poor position in the table to make life difficult for the visitors
for long periods of the match. John Riley was back at the heart of defence for Chiesa, while Darren Hodsoll, Matt Gillham,
and Danny Trew were missing from the starting XI that beat Digital Line at Coopers last week.
It was against this opposition at this venue last year that
Chiesa recorded their first ever league victory, and a repeat performance would have seen the boys from the Church
of the Horn return to Hx all smiles, but they were up against it when they fell behind to a Ben Jackson goal against the run
of play after fifteen minutes. Chiesa were guilty of overplaying in the middle of the park and three quick passes from Bryant
were followed by an unstoppable finish into the top right corner from Jackson that left Chiesa number one Mark Harris with
no chance.
That goal acted as the wake up call that Chiesa needed.
Regular readers of this column will know full well that LC/DC are not the quickest of starters, and for the next fifteen minutes
they played the kind of football that has elevated them from last seasons bottom of the table outfit to the championship
chasers that they are now. One such move that involved no fewer than fifteen passes across the width of the pitch culminated
in Colin Williams' cross being flicked on by Adam Jeffers for Iain Gay to slam home his second goal of the season from
close range, and put the Hornchurch Boys back on level terms.
La Chiesa were in complete control of proceedings now,
and when Williams raced to the byline and picked out Samuel Knowles to chest down and fire Chiesa into the lead on the half
hour, the clever money was on the LC/DC going on to win convincingly, but within five minutes the scores were level once again.
Bryant somehow won three 50/50 challenges, and the ball fell to John Healy on the right hand side of the box to make
the score 2-2. A free kick from Williams was headed onto the underside of the crossbar by a Bryant defender and the follow up
somehow cleared off the line, but the teams went off at half time with the scores level, and Chiesa were left trying to figure
out how to break down the Bryant defence and turn one the point they had into three.
The second period was played almost exclusively in Bryant's
half as La Chiesa pressed for the winner that they required to maintain their promotion push. Dennis Peck was holding the
ball up impressively up front for the visitors without getting the chance to add to his ten goals this season, while Dean
Jordan and Samuel Knowles were playing some neat one touch football in the centre of the park without creating any clear cut
opportunities for front men Peck and Jeffers. Chiesa forced a succession of corners, one of which almost saw Terry Soteriou
give Chiesa the lead only for his an amazing goal line clearance to deny him his first goal for the club. Peck had a
goal harshly disallowed for third time in the last two matches, before Jeffers headed wide from three yards when it seemed
easier to score. Bryant had their moments, and Harris was relieved to see a spectacular 25 yard effort bounce back off the
crossbar, but it was the LC/DC that were doing all the pressing without playing to their potential, Steve McCarthy
and the away back four were seldom put under any real pressure. The visitors were denied a stonewall penalty for a foul
on Peck when clean through on goal, and it appeared that the footballing gods were not on their side when they were awarded
only a free kick when Peck was fouled inside the area on seventy minutes, but a free kick with Colin Williams
behind it is as good as a penalty for most sides, and Chiesa's number fifteen maintained his impeccable dead ball
standards when he whipped an unstoppable shot past keeper Sean Ryan into the top right hand corner to give his side a 3-2
lead.
Chiesa defender Warren Hardwick's uncompromising style has seen
him nicknamed 'The Hornchurch Hatchet', and he came close to making it four with a header from a corner, while Cy Taylor
replaced Peck with a quarter of an hour remaining to receive his weekly levelling from an opposition defender, but LC/DC hung
on to record their sixth straight win and send Firmin, Rax, Dom, Crooko and the travelling army of supporters back to the
Bridgehouse content with another three haul under their belt.
Chiesa may not have played their best football of the season
in the last three matches, but nine points out of nine keeps the pressure on the teams above them, and having played less
matches than all their rivals, their destiny is in their own hands. Only time will tell whether they have the capacity
to see the job through and gain promotion to Division Two.
LCDC; (4-4-2) Harris; McCarthy, Riley, Hardwick,
Soteriou; Gay, Knowles, Jordan, Williams; Jeffers, Peck (Taylor)
Gols - Gay, Knowles, Williams
Arbitro -
