(Eastern Counties League Premier Division)
To say the previous season had been traumatic would be an understatement and the fact that the club was still in existence at all was a miracle in itself. Although having finished bottom of the table the Dragons had received a reprieve from relegation in July after Kings Lynn Reserves and Harwich & Parkeston had resigned from the league. It had been announced that for the first time in nearly 30 years Wivenhoe Town would not be competing in either the F.A Vase of the F.A Cup. This situation was an off-shoot from the ongoing problems with the Wivenhoe & District Sporting Facilities Trust. Club Chairman Carl Callan, aided by several others, had been fighting against the Dragons’ eviction from Broad Lane for months and although the Trust were refusing to budge, news that a County Court Judge had recommended that mediation was the sensible way to go had opened up some light at the end of the tunnel.
This was to be Mo Osman’s first full season in charge and he had seen the likes of James Raby (Halstead Town), Ben Connell (FC Clacton), Marley Spindler (Stanway Rovers), Scott Yearling (FC Clacton) and goalkeeper Bobby Jones all depart while the previous season’s leading scorer Luke Rogers would miss the start of the campaign through injury. Kevin Brown had joined the club as coach and his son Ryan (Halstead Town) was amongst the new recruits that included young Lewis Blanchett, defender Tom Rogers (Stanway), goalkeeper Adam Wilding (Witham Town), forwards Markel Greenidge (Three Bridges) and Max Egbuna (local Colchester park football), plus returning midfielders TJ Amass (Harwich & Parkeston) and Reece Keating (Ipswich Wanderers). After a 1-4 defeat to Heybridge Swifts the rest of Pre Season went well with victories over Long Melford (2-0), Halstead Town (2-1) and Tilbury (2-1) plus a 2-2 draw with Julian Dicks’ Grays Athletic.
(picture Markel Greenidge blocks an opponent’s clearance)
Our form in the Friendlies seemed to suggest the possibility of a better start to the new campaign however once things got underway successive defeats against Great Yarmouth Town home 1-4 (scorer Blanchett), Woodbridge Town home 0-1 and C.R.C away 0-2 left us in that familiar rock bottom place in the table. That said, we had created numerous chances in each of the games and when 4th placed Debenham LC visited Broad Lane on Saturday 21st August, the debut appearance of Max Egbuna with his powerful hold up play brought out a new dynamic in the team as goals from Ryan Brown and Lewis Blanchett saw us record a 2-1 victory. Confidence surged through the side and four days later we outplayed Felixstowe & Walton United on their own pitch with goals from Greenidge, Egbuna and Wale Odedoyin giving us a 3-1 win which was our first away victory since way back in March 2009. 2-1 victories over Histon Reserves at home (Greenidge, Egbuna) and Brantham Athletic away (Greenidge, Egbuna) were followed by four successive draws at Norwich United 3-3 (TJ Amass, Jamie Lee Smith, own goal) and at home to FC Clacton 1-1 (Joe Hawkins), Dereham Town 0-0 and Wroxham 1-1 (Jonathon Carr) saw the Dragons rise as high as 4th place in the table. Our eight match unbeaten run finally came to an end on Tuesday 21st September as we went down 1-3 at FC Clacton with Wale Odedoyin netting our consolation goal.
(picture Wale Odedoyin puts the CRC defense under pressure)
With relations between the Trust and the club now beginning to improve, the Dragons returned to winning ways with a storming 4-1 home win against Norwich United on 25/9/10 thanks to goals from Brown, Carr, Hawkins and Luke Rogers on his return to First Team action. Unfortunately Max Egbuna’s impressive form had quickly attracted interest from other clubs such as Dagenham & Redbridge, Braintree Town (“send him over for a trial”) and Aveley (“we’ll give you 75 quid”) while Southend United requested a “car park ticket and a seat in the Directors’ box” for their scout to watch the Dragons striker (talk about losing touch with grass roots football at our level… I bet he was stunned to find he had to bring his own toilet paper !. Only joking, as he had his “car park ticket” to use !!!). This interest seemed to have an unsettling affect on us as league defeats against Mildenhall Town home 0-1 and Walsham-le-Willows away 0-3 quickly followed. Egbuna was on target (along with a brace from Hawkins) in a 3-0 win at Histon Reserves on Saturday 16th October before it was announced that he was signing for Chelmsford City on the Monday. The victory at Histon actually turned out to be the Dragons’ LAST of the season in the League !.
A 3-1 home success over Saffron Walden Town in early October (scorers Carr, Luke Rogers and Andy Gibbons) had given Wivenhoe a home draw against Grays Athletic in the 3rd Round of the Essex Senior Cup on Tuesday 2nd November and a crowd of 233 saw the Dragons give a good account of themselves before eventually going down to a 0-2 defeat. Max Egbuna was back after a brief association with Chelmsford and, as a late substitute, he set up Tola Odedoyin for an 84th minute equalizer to secure a 3-3 draw at Ely City (Greenidge and Carr netting the other goals). Egbuna was on target to earn a 1-1 draw at Great Yarmouth on 6/11/10 as the Dragons sat in 9th place in the Premier Division table with 25 points from 19 matches. With Greenidge suffering injury, home defeats to Haverhill Rovers 0-1 and Wisbech Town 3-4 (scorers Luke Rogers 2, Wale Odedoyin) plus a 0-3 loss at Hadleigh United brought a miserable November to a close which was only matched by the weather as the rain saw just one game played in December, a 0-1 defeat at Mildenhall Town. During this time Jonathon Carr also departed the club to move abroad. Off the field there had been good news with the mediation talks between the club and the WDSFT reaching a positive conclusion and that work on a toilet block in the corner of the ground would start in the New Year.
(picture Carl Callan and Andrew Nightingale at the site of the toilet block at Broad Lane)
January began with second from bottom strugglers Brantham Athletic visiting Broad Lane on Monday 3rd. With the Dragons now in 14th place it was hoped this game would give us a chance to get back on track but the ‘Hoe supporters could only look on in horror as a nightmare unfolded before them. Wale Odedoyin received his second red card in 5 games as we crashed to a 2-5 defeat in front of 158 spectators with Tola Odedoyin and Lewis Blanchett our scorers. With players now departing (Blanchett to Brantham, Tom Rogers and keeper Adam Wilding to Stanway and Max Egbuna going to Switzerland) Wivenhoe’s slide down the table continued amidst a combination of defeats (all be it mainly narrow ones) and draws. The Dragons held big spending Champions elect Leiston to a 1-1 draw at Broad lane on Saturday 9th April thanks to a 75th minute equalizer from 18 year old Pete Sainsford which sent the ‘Hoe contingent in the 172 crowd into raptures, especially having been reduced to 10 men after Tola Odedoyin had been dismissed. Indeed, we almost snatched a dramatic victory when Ben Lampon’s cross shot caught out the keeper and clipped the bar.
(pciture Leiston’s Danny Cunningham challenges Ben Lampon)
By now Wivenhoe were 3rd from bottom with the knowledge that only two clubs were to be relegated. A narrow 0-1 defeat at Kirkley & Pakefield on 16/4/11 was followed by a fantastic 2-2 draw at Leiston seven days later thanks to goals from Wale Odedoyin and Connor Scurlock. That result meant Premier Division survival was a point away as Stanway Rovers arrived at Broad Lane on Monday 25th April. Luke Rogers put us ahead from the penalty spot only for the visitors to equalize just 30 seconds from the end but the 1-1 score line ensured top flight survival. The curtain came down with a 1-2 loss at Wisbech Town meaning the Dragons concluded the season with a 28 match (10 draws) winless run although it has to be pointed out that many performances deserved so much more. Wivenhoe ended up using 39 players in total with TJ Amass, Tom Cutts, Tola Odedoyin, Ryan Brown, Joe Hawkins, Ben Lampon and Reece Keating being the main stays of the team.
(picture Joint leading scorer Luke Rogers)
GOALSCORERS (TOTAL 51)
8 – Luke Rogers, 8 – Wale Odedoyin, 5 – Joe Hawkins 5 – Max Egbuna 4 – Markel Greenidge, 4 – Jonathon Carr, 3 – TJ Amass, 3 – Lewis Blanchett, 2 – Tola Odedoyin, 2 – Ryan Brown, 2 – Tom Cutts, 1 – Jamie Lee Smith, 1 – Pete Sainsford, 1 – Andy Gibbons, 1 – Connor Scurlock, 1 – Opponents own goal
