Match Preview

A surprising 36 minutes as Google puts its foot down and fires up the A12 to complete the 26.5 miles on the fastest route due to traffic conditions. Closer than I thought, so close it's almost a local derby!

________________________________________

Coggeshall Town Football Club is a football club based in Coggeshall, Essex, England. The club are currently members of the Essex Senior League and play at West Street.

History
The club was established on 27 September 1878 by the J.K. King seed company in a meeting at the White Hart Hotel, with many of the King family and company employees being keen footballers. After losing the final of the Essex Junior Cup in 1899, they joined the North Essex League, going on to win the league four times. The club then joined the Colchester & District League and won Division II B and the Colchester & District Junior Cup in 1909–10, before retaining the Division II title the following season. In 1911 the league merged into the Essex & Suffolk Border League and the club were Division II B runners-up in 1926–27.

During the inter-war period, Coggeshall also played in local leagues around Braintree, Halstead, and Kelvedon, as well as returning to the North Essex League, where they won a further ten titles by World War II. After the war, the club joined the Braintree & District League, before switching to the Colchester & East Essex League. They were promoted to the Premier Division at the end of the 1951–52 season after finishing as runners-up in Division One. In 1959 the club moved up to the Essex & Suffolk Border League and won Division One in 1962–63.

The late 1960s and early 1970s saw a prolonged period of success for Coggeshall as they won back-to-back Premier Division titles in 1966–67 and 1967–68, finished as runners-up in 1968–69, and won a third title in 1969–70. They also won the League Cup in both 1968–69 and 1969–70, beating Whitton United 3–2 in the 1969 final and Heybridge Swifts 1–0 in the 1970 final. After finishing as runners-up in 1970–71 and 1971–72, the club joined the Essex Senior League in 1972. After finishing bottom of the table for three consecutive seasons between 1983–84 and 1985–86, the club left the league. They rejoined the league in 1987 but left again at the end of the 1988–89 season for financial reasons.

Coggeshall had two spells in the Essex Intermediate League during the 1990s, before rejoining the Essex & Suffolk Border League. They won Division Three in 1994–95 and were Division Three runners-up in 2000–01. In 2012–13 they finished second in Division One, earning promotion to the Premier Division. In 2015–16 they won the Premier Division and the League Cup, beating Holland 4–3 on penalties, following a 0–0 draw. At the end of the season, they were promoted to Division One of the Eastern Counties League. The following season saw them finish as Division One runners-up, resulting in promotion to the Premier Division. In 2017–18 the club won the Premier Division title at the first attempt, earning promotion to the North Division of the Isthmian League.

Coggeshall's first season in the Isthmian League ended with a fourth-place finish and qualification for the promotion play-offs, with the club losing 1–0 to Maldon & Tiptree in the semi-finals. In 2022–23 they finished fourth from bottom of the division. After losing an inter-step play-off to Winterton Rangers the club were relegated to the Essex Senior League.

Ground
The club originally played at Mynheer Park, before moving to Barnard Field on Pointweel Lane for the 1880–81 season. The following season saw the club move to Highfields Farm Park, where they played until relocating to Fabians Field on Colne Road in 1890. In 1895 the club returned to Highfields. After being given notice to leave the ground in 1960, land for a new ground on West Street was offered to them on a leasehold basis, with £2,000 raised to prepare it for the club. A pavilion was opened in 1961, a stand in 1964, and a clubhouse in 1971, at which point the club moved its headquarters from the Chapel Hotel. Floodlights were installed in 1967. When the landowner decided to sell the site in 1981, the club raised enough money to purchase it.

The ground's record attendance of 1,124 was set at the end of the 1967–68 when Coggeshall defeated Tiptree United to win the Essex & Suffolk Border League at the end of the 1967–68 season.

Honours
Eastern Counties League
Premier Division champions: 2017–18
Essex & Suffolk Border League
Premier Division champions: 1966–67, 1967–68, 1969–70, 2015–16
Division One champions: 1962–63
Division Three champions: 1994–95
League Cup winners: 1968–69, 1969–70, 2015–16
Colchester & District League
Division II B champions: 1909–10, 1910–11
Essex Intermediate Cup
Winners: 1970–71
Colchester & District Junior Cup
Winners: 1909–10

Records
Best FA Cup performance: Third qualifying round, 2018–19
Best FA Trophy performance: Extra preliminary round, 2018–19, 2019–20
Best FA Vase performance: Third round, 1974–75
Record attendance: 1,124 vs Tiptree United, Essex & Suffolk Border League, 1968

02/03/24 Essex Senior League
COGGESHALL TOWN 0
LITTLE OAKLEY 5

27/02/24 Essex Senior League
COGGESHALL TOWN 2
(Roy Stevens 2)
SAFFRON WALDEN TOWN 3

17/02/24 Essex Senior League
COGGESHALL TOWN 1
(Tayo Adejoja)
TILBURY 3

10/02/24 Essex Senior League
WOODFORD TOWN 2
COGGESHALL TOWN 1
(Lester Ward)

30/01/24 Peter Butcher
Memorial Trophy
2nd Round
COGGESHALL TOWN 0
BARKING 1

27/01/24 Essex Senior League
COGGESHALL TOWN 2
(Reggie Gregory 2)
FC CLACTON 3

After 29 matches, “The SeedGrowers” are in 20th place in the Essex Senior League Premier. They have 9 points from those 29 games – 2 wins, 3 draws, and 24 defeats. They have a -56 goal difference, scoring 33 and conceding a staggering 89.
Home form consists of 2 wins, 1 draw, and 13 defeats, scoring 16 and conceding 46. Home defeats are many, but wins are rare, in fact the only two wins were against Ilford 1-0 and West Essex 2-1, both back in October. That win against West Essex was their last victory, 20 games ago…
In current form, not surprisingly, they are in 20th place with 6 straight defeats, scoring 7 and conceding 21.
A consecutive relegation is looking likely as Coggeshall are 20 points adrift of safety, with just 9 games left so it’s mathematically possible but in reality unlikely that they will claw their way out of trouble.

We met in the ESL on the 24th of October and The Bridge won 3-2 at the T.J.Cottis with two goals from Bruno Tavares and the other from Jason Banton. Dimitri Nicolau and Leandro Sain scored for the SeedGrowers and 126 watched the game. In the Coggeshall line-up were ex-bridge players, Ross Elsom, Reggie Gregory, Ellis Lawson, and Roland Oteniya.

Note – This is the official player list as per the Full Time Website. Some of the players listed may not still be at the club.
Tayo Adedoja
Mayowa Agbolde
Izaih Antoine
Kieran Bailey
Dev Bhamra
Ciaran Burke
Aaron Cassie
Harry Davison
Nathan Dennis
Theodore Duffin
Louis Dunne
Ross Elsom
Harvey Farmer
Lewis Francis
Alfie Gilbey
Reggie Gregory
Kyan Gulliver
Cameron James
Scott Keys
Harry Lloyd
Giseldi Marashi
Jack McIver-Hauser
Diione Millett
Alex Moss
Dimitri Nicolaou
Emmanuel Olagunju
Joseph Oseyemi
Roland Oteniya
Joseph Payne
Reggie Pegrum
Freddie Pheby
James Pugsley
Leandro Sain
Roy Stevens
Conor Tyrrell
Dominik Varady
Lester Ward
Finn Wilkes
Jack Wilson
Tommy Woodcock

Ex-Bridge co-manager Rob Moore was appointed as the SeedGrowers manager at the start of the season and was joined by ex-Bridge coach Gareth Cleverly. It’s been a tough season for Rob and ‘Clevs’ is not currently involved but probably itching to get back and cause havoc!

Reggie Gregory is top scorer with 7 goals and there are a lot of connections between the two clubs, probably due to Rob and also Coggeshall’s link with Chelmsford City that is similar to the link between The Bridge and Chelmsford last season. Not sure how many are still there but Reggie has had some familiar faces around him with Ross Elsom, Finn Wilkes, Roland Oteniya, Ellis Lawson, Alex Moss, Roy Stevens, Tommy Woodcock, Evan Payne, and Toppers who have made at least one appearance this season. Watch out for any of those if any are still around and keep an eye out for 'Clevs', I’m sure he’s hiding there somewhere!!

One not to watch for is Olly Murs as he is no longer involved…

Postponed from Saturday 24th February, like many others, due to the wet weather, it’s time for another go at this one, and as in my original preview, this is a ‘winnable’ game for obvious reasons.

With the recent additions to the Bridge squad, hopefully, we’ve added the firepower needed and a win here could send us heading in the right direction as the season reaches its ‘business end’. So, if you fancy a Tuesday evening ‘just down the road’ according to Google, I’m sure the lads would appreciate your support…