Coggeshall Town extended their lead at the top of the table with a hard fought away win at Downham. After the long trip ” The Town” arrived at their hosts on a chilly afternoon looking to continue the recent good run of form. As the teams took to the field it was apparent it wasn’t going to be a great footballing spectacle as pitch conditions were very poor. The game got underway with Downham coming out of the blocks fast and looking highly motivated to try and gain a advantage over the league leaders early on. As the match settled down Coggeshall started to have the better of the possession but the play was still end to end with both teams looking dangerous when going forward. It was Coggeshall who created the first clear cut chance after Josce Syrett got free from his marker to cross but Nnamdi Nwachuku just failed to hit the target. The away team went close again shortly after but this time Tyrone Scarlett was denied by a fine save from the Downham keeper. Downham fought back and had a good spell of their own and only some great last ditch defending from Liam Thomas prevented the home team going ahead. The match was now stretched and both teams looked likely to break the deadlock sooner rather than later. It was Downham who went ahead on 25 mins after they scored a fine headed goal from a corner after some slack marking from the visitors. The home team had their tails up now and Coggeshall had to work hard to keep them out from adding a second. As the half went on ” The Town ” got back on top and created a host of chances leading up to the break but couldn’t manage to force the equaliser so they went in at half time one goal behind.

The second half began with Coggeshall making a change with Tom Holdstock lining up in the visitors frontline. Coggeshall looked far more like themselves after the break and started to dominate the possession far better with Nnamdi Nwachuku and Holdstock looking a real threat to the Downham defence. Coggeshall also started to win the midfield battle with Matt Southwell and Tom Colville putting in a real shift and supplying some great forward balls for the strikers to work off. The equaliser came on the hour after some sustained pressure led to Downham conceding a freekick 40 yards from goal, the impressive George Cocklin supplied a pinpoint ball into the box where Tom Holdstock was on hand to score with a great finish from close range to level things up. That goal really fired ” The Town ” up and their only looked like one winner from now on as Downham started to tire after they had put so much effort into the first half to get ahead. Downham still looked dangerous on the break but Coggeshall’s defence led by the excellent Liam Thomas held firm with both Matt Rose and Danny Scott making vital interceptions, and Sean Radley putting his body on the line on more than one occasion. Coggeshall kept pressing for the winner with Nwachuku and Syrett both going close when they probably should have scored. The winning goal came out of nothing after a long ball forward released Tom Holdstock down the right hand channel who made ground until he was 25 yards out from goal where he unleashed a great shot which went across the keeper and found its way into the far corner of the net. It was a excellent strike from a position that Holdstock probably had no right to score from and was well worthy of being the winning goal.” The Town ” saw out the remainder of the game relatively comfortably with Matt Walker rarely tested in goal to record a excellent 3 points as the final whistle sounded. It had been a real team effort to secure the away win as Downham had been very tough opponents for the majority of the game.

The team have no midweek action this week and are on the road again next Saturday when they have another lengthy trip to March.The players would again like to thank the many supporters who made the trip to Downham your support away from home is always a great help and much appreciated.