As the festive season approached the weather had entered a warmer spell. I came out to Hockley, in Essex, to watch Hullbridge Sports FC play Woodford Town in the Essex Senior League.

The T J Cottis Stadium, is on Lower Road and boasts plenty of free parking. A decent clubhouse and floodlighting, as well as two seated stands at the pitchside. The capacity of the stadium is 1500, with the record attendance coming in the 1999-2000 FA youth cup, when 800 came to watch the home side play Blackburn Rovers in the FA Youth Cup.

The home side came into the fixture in ninth place, with 30 points from their opening 20 matches. Manager, Justin Gardner, has seen his team’s goals come chiefly from top scorers, Jason Blanton (8 goals) and Harry Brown (7 goals).

Woodford Town however, sat in third place at the kick off, with eleven wins, six draws and only three defeats in their opening twenty matches. The away side, managed by Shane Baptiste, have scored an impressive 48 goals, with their top scorers being, Luke Parrott with 18 goals and Nathan Sollossi, with 12 goals.

The first half was a turgid affair. Neither side could find a way to break through the defence of the opposition. As the half wore on it was Hullbridge Sports who looked the more likely to break the deadlock, with a lot of their play going down the left hand side with Jake Gordon orchestrating the play. The visitors always looked to have a threat with Yemi Adezani looking constantly to sit on the shoulder of the last defender, but at the half-time break, it was a fair outcome when the sides went in, with the match tied and goalless.

The second half saw Woodford Town, buoyed by their own supporter’s choir, which did not stop throughout the half, start with vigour and pace. Nathan Solossi and Jed Brown-Johnson created a series of chances without luck.

The half carried on with neither side able to convert possession into goals and then with just minutes to go Woodford Town’s substitute, Emmanuel Rube, bundled the ball into the net. Sadly as the choir erupted, the linesman’s flag raised and the game was once again, goalless.

At the final whistle it was Woodford whose point would have meant more, cementing and away point into their efforts to maintain a top three place. Hullbridge Sports would have dearly liked to secure a win to lift them up the table, towards the promotion places.