La Chiesa were defeated once again this
Sunday in a vital six pointer they could ill afford to lose. Esprit came into town with only a victory against bottom club
Stonewood to show for their efforts this season, but left with three points in their pocket that were almost handed to them by
their hosts.
La Chiesa were once again down to the
bare bones. John Riley, Mark Harris, Warren Hardwick and Sam Knowles all failed to recover from the knocks they picked up
against Ascot last week, while Gary Higgs, Matt Gillham, Danny Sales and Adam Jeffers were also unavailable. As early
as the second minute the home side were in trouble when veteran Centre Half Mark Ede was adjudged to have pushed his
man in the box and a penalty was awarded. Neg Dupree stepped up to take the kick, only for Danny Hardwick to save superbly,
and the rebound to be fired over the bar. A let off for Chiesa,and they capitalised on it soon after, when Colin Williams'
long throw was flicked on by Danny Trew, and Darren Hodsoll, in his last match before suspension, slid the ball home to put
the Hornchurch Boys ahead.
The rest of the first half was notable
mainly for the amount of times that Esprit striker Wale Oshiyemi was caught offside, but late on his team equalised when Hardwick
parried a shot out to Darren Bull who fired in the rebound to make it one each.
The second half was played in much the
same vein, neither side really making any clear cut chances. La Chiesa's teenage debutant Bobby O'Toole showed some nice
touches in midfield, Benny Lee didn't put a foot wrong at right back while Alan Lamont gave everything in his first full ninety
minutes for the club.
The turning point came around the
hour mark. Danny Trew won another header, and when Cy Taylor turned his man and volleyed home from 20 yards, La Chiesa
thought they had taken the lead for a second time. Unfortunately, the linesmans flag was up. When they tried this
trick a couple of weeks ago against St Augustines it failed miserably, but this time the goal was disallowed and, before
there could be any discussion on the rights and wrongs of the decision, the ball was in the backof the Chiesa net. Colin Williams'
back pass wrong footed his keeper, and let in Bull for his second goal of the match. Hard to be critical of Williams,
as he has probably been LCDC's most consistent player this season. Nevertheless Chiesa were now on the back foot and a
minute later and it was all over. Bull got the better of flu victim Terry Soteriou, who
done well to get through the ninety minutes, and stroked the ball past Hardwick for his hat trick.
La Chiesa's injury curse struck again
when Lee had to be replaced by late arrival Danny Button with twenty minutes to go. They huffed and puffed from then
on but couldn't find the key to unlock the Esprit defence and another defeat was all they had to show for their
mornings work.
Manager Samuel Knowles looked ashen faced at the final whistle and announced
to the press after the game that he was cancelling the Glamour Cup Tie against Senior Division Theydon Bois on November 30th
to give the squad time to recover from their injuries for the crucial weeks that follow. It is thought the squad are
likely to go to training camp in La Manga, Spain, instead.
LCDC ;(4-4-2) D Hardwick; Lee (Button),
Ede, Soteriou, Williams;B Gillham, Hodsoll, O'Toole, Lamont; Taylor, Trew
Gol - Hodsoll
Arbitro - D Champion
