SEE PICTURES OF GAME BELOW:

Coggeshall Town ended their fixtures for 2016 with a draw against hard to break down opponents Halstead Town. The Boxing Day clash was played out in front of a crowd of over 400 with a large contingent from Halstead helping to swell the crowd. Conditions were excellent on a crisp but dry and sunny day. The game started at a brisk pace with Coggeshall having the better of the possession in the early stages without really creating any clear cut chances. As the half went on it turned into a bit of a stalemate with both teams seeming to cancel each other out with goal mouth action limited to half chances or shots from distance with neither keeper seriously tested.Coggeshall had their best chances just before the break with Tyrone Scarlett and Darren Mills both going close but the Halstead keeper saved well. As half time approached “The Town” felt they had edged the possession but had not managed to break the deadlock so the score was level as the referee blew for half time at 0-0.

The second half started much as the first had finished with things pretty even, Halstead had their best spell at this stage but Matt Walker was never tested in the Coggeshall goal as ” The Town” defence led by Liam Thomas looked very solid. As the half went on Coggeshall started to dominate the play a bit more with George Cocklin and Tom Colville taking over the midfield area but just as they were starting to look like they could break through disaster struck as Tyrone Scarlett was sent off reducing Coggeshall to ten men. The team had to regroup quickly as Halstead came at them hard as they were lifted by the home team being a man short. The away team couldn’t take advantage of having a extra man before they were also reduced to ten with one of their defenders being shown a straight red for a reckless challenge. This evened things up and Coggeshall took control of the game at that point and looked the more likely to edge in front. Coggeshall were on the front foot now and Edilson Cruz smashed a great shot in from the edge of the box only for the referee to bring the play back for a earlier foul instead of playing a advantage so the goal didn’t stand. Coggeshall continued to have the bulk of the play for the remainder of the game and created a couple of openings but the Halstead keeper kept them out.Halstead themselves had a couple of chances late on to score but they couldn’t convert either. Coggeshall were reduced to nine men late on when Darren Mills was dismissed for a second bookable offence but it didn’t alter the match much as by that stage both teams had seemed to have settled for a point.On reflection a draw was probably fair with neither team really creating anything clear cut.

Coggeshall Town would like to thank supporters from both clubs who came out in force on the day to give the game a real Boxing Day atmosphere.

The team are at West Street again on January 2nd for their first game of 2017 when Leiston are the visitors.