SEE PICTURES OF GAME BELOW:

Coggeshall Town started 2017 with a home win against Leiston to maintain top spot in the league. With Leiston being bottom of the division, it looked on paper like it should have been a comfortable afternoon’s work but strange things can happen over the Christmas / New Year period so the team was well prepared for a tough game. It was a crisp afternoon with the West Street surface again in great condition for the time of year as the match got underway. Leiston set up with a very defensive team playing 5 defenders with 4 midfielders in front of them and a lone striker making them very difficult to break down. It appeared their game plan was more about damage limitation rather than trying to win the game. Coggeshall changed their own formation early on to try and combat the defensive formation of the opposition as they had plenty of possession in the opening exchanges without really testing the away teams keeper. The deadlock was broken on 30 minutes with Matt Rose getting in at the far post to finish well after good work from Tyrone Scarlett to score his first goal for the club. Coggeshall continued to pile on the pressure with Leiston offering very little at the other end with Matt Walker in ” The Town ” goal only called into action once when he saved well, down low to his left to keep Leiston out. The home team doubled their lead just before this break with Tyrone Scarlett smashing home from just inside the box after Tom Holdstock and Edilson Cruz had combined well to create the opening. Coggeshall went in at half time with a two goal lead but it had been a tough job to break a very compact Leiston team down.

The second half continued the same with it being one way traffic towards the Leiston goal but “The Town” were struggling to covert the many chances they were creating. The Leiston keeper made many good saves including keeping out efforts from Luke Clark and Josce Syrett who was making his debut for the club. The third goal eventually came along after some good build up play involving George Cocklin and Matt Southwell put Tom Holdstock in on goal who’s shot was again kept out by the keeper but Danny Scott was following up to score with a tidy finish.That goal completed the scoring and made certain the 3 points were going to Coggeshall. The remainder of the game was played out with Coggeshall playing some excellent possession football without really threatening to increase their lead, they had seemed happy with the 3-0 scoreline.

The final whistle went which meant ” The Town” started the new year with a win in a game which could have been a potential banana skin. The team are on the road the next two weeks starting with a tough trip to Downham next Saturday. The club would again like to thank all supporters for the tremendous support we have received in both games over the Holiday period it has not gone unnoticed that our attendances are right up there compared with many other teams in our league and leagues above.

Thankyou and Happy New Year.