Manager Graeme Smith made a couple of changes following last week’s come back win over Bury Town, with one of them enforced after midfielder George Cocklin suffered an injury in the warm-up prior to the battle with the Jammers. Daniel Cunningham and Syrus Gordon were therefore introduced to the starting eleven, with last weeks debutant Emmanuel Foralin taking his place on the substitutes bench.

After falling behind early against Bury last Saturday, the SeedGrowers suffered from the same problem. Maldon, with some recent additions in their starting eleven started the brighter of the two sides and took the lead after just four minutes. A corner from the right hand side found their captain, Jack Cawley unmarked inside the eighteen yard box and he planted a lovely header in to the top corner past a helpless James Bransgrove. Shortly after falling behind, Coggeshall suffered another blow as young defender, Josh Pollard suffered what appeared to be another serious ankle injury having only returned from a similar injury just a few weeks ago – Pollard was withdrawn from the action and replaced by Foralin.

Throughout the opening twenty five minutes, Smith’s side really struggled to come to terms with Maldon & Tiptree’s approach. Ross Wall had the home sides first chance of the afternoon, however his header sailed over the bar after an impressive cross from Sam Bantick. Just before the half hour mark and Coggeshall were awarded a free kick after a rash tackle from goalscorer Cawley on Bantick. The dangerous forward picked himself up off the floor, stepped up to take the set piece and bent a delicious effort over the defensive wall and in to the top corner to give the SeedGrowers a perhaps, undeserved equaliser. As it has done in previous weeks, Coggeshall’s opening goal sparked them in to life as they began to create several goal scoring opportunities. Bantick forced Maldon’s goalkeeper in to a smart save, before McNamara was again called in to action to deny Correy Davidson a certain goal. Following McNamara’s save, Davidson went close again but his acrobatic effort shaved the post and went wide of the Maldon goal. On the stroke of half-time, Davidson had another chance to put his side in the lead however to the delight of the Jammers defence, he wasted his opportunity.

Half Time: Coggeshall Town 1-1 Maldon & Tiptree

Just like the first half, Maldon started the second half of the game on the front foot and again were awarded with an early goal. Ex-professional, Matthew Briggs dribbled down the left wing, skipped past two defenders before delivering an inviting cross in to the box on to the foot of Decarrey Sheriff, who made no mistake and tapped home, for what was probably his easiest goal of the season. As Maldon began to sniff blood, goalkeeper James Bransgrove was forced in to a smart save to ensure the deficit remained at just the one goal… to the delight of his team mates. As the home side continued to be off the pace in the second half, Maldon were awarded a free kick on the edge of Coggeshall’s box. Maldon’s, Sammie McLeod miss-hit his free-kick however it took an unfortunate deflection and crawled over the goal line past a wrong-footed Bransgrove. As Smith tried to spark his side in to life, Nnamdi Nwachuku was introduced to the battle in replace of Daniel Cunningham, whilst Davidson collected the first yellow card of the afternoon for a professional foul on Sheriff.

Striker, Wall then had the best chance of the second half for Coggeshall. A lose clearance from McNamara landed at the feet of Wall, who was able to adjust his feet quickly however Billy Roast, Maldon’s defender appeared from nowhere to block Wall’s goal-bound effort. The SeedGrowers were then given a lifeline, as Bantick appeared to be through on goal, he was tripped up James Shepherd who received his second yellow card of the afternoon from the Referee and Maldon were reduced to ten men. Nwachuku’s introduction to the match was beginning to cause the Maldon defender problems however McNamara was on hand to deny Nwachuku a certain goal. Some last ditch defending from the visitors, who have not lost a league game away from home this season ensured they stayed two goals ahead, as they continued to frustrate the SeedGrowers.

As Maldon looked to sit back and defend, Coggeshall continued to create chance after chance. Conor Hubble saw his long range effort saved by McNamara, before Bantick had a golden chance inside the penalty area however he missed his kick as the ball rolled away from danger. In the eighty-ninth minute, the SeedGrowers were back in the game thanks to Corey Davidson. Davidson dribbled this way through two tackles, before unleashing a vicious strike which hit the underside of the cross bar and landed in the back of the net… could Coggeshall complete another impressive come back to continue their unbeaten run?

As the home side applied lots of pressure, the Maldon defence continue to impress and a goal line clearance from a corner ensured they stayed ahead by just the one goal. As the game was drifting away from the SeedGrowers, Nwachuku tried his luck from distance however his effort went well wide in what was the penultimate kick of the match. Maldon’s unbeaten run away from home in the league continued, as Coggeshall suffered their home defeat of the 2018/19 campaign.

Full Time: Coggeshall 2-3 Maldon & Tiptree

Attendance: 123

Coggeshall Town:
James Bransgrove, Joshua Pollard, Tevan Allen, Daniel Cunningham, Dexter Peter, Jamie Shaw, Correy Davidson, Connor Hubble, Sam Bantick, Ross Wall, Syrus Gordon.

Substitutes:
Lewis Soraf, Dylan Awulonu, George Cockling, Nnamdi Nwachuku, Emmanuel Foralin.

Maldon & Tiptree:
Ben McNamara, James Shepherd, Matthew Briggs, Lewis Dark, Jack Cawley, Billy Roast, Stephan Ngamvoulou, Sammie McLeod, Decarrey Sheriff, Eddie-Louis Dsane, Callum Anderson.

Substitutes:
Shane Cojocarel, Jluuatobi Coker, Olakunle Akinwande, Kyen Nicholas, Chris Millar.