It was Coggeshall Town’s night as they delivered an excellent performance to maintain their own playoff push at the expense of Hoddesdon Town. The Lilywhites remain in 7th place with two to play and can mathematically still finish level on points with 5th place Hutton but have a vastly inferior goal difference.

This was a rearranged game after the original fixture in March was abandoned in the second half after Coggeshall’s Sam Hollocks suffered a dislocated elbow. It was a pleasure to welcome him back to Lowfield as a spectator and we are pleased to report that his arm was able to hold his free pint from Hoddesdon Chairman, Stuart Varney. This match was “pay what you like” on the gate due to the previous abandonment, but big thank you goes to all the incredible fans of both teams that very kindly donated to help the club cover the match day costs. The non-league family is a special thing.

The opening exchanges saw Coggeshall growing into the game well and creating the majority of the chances. There were several good stops from Liam Nugent in the Hoddesdon goal and more than a few other dangerous Coggeshall shots that seemed to be getting closer to their target.

The lowest point of the evening came after 34 minutes as Hoddesdon’s Connor Bolton collided with the barrier behind the goal and sustained a nasty looking injury to his knee. Whilst he was able to slowly walk off after being patched up on the pitch, we understand that he is in hospital today for further work and we wish him all the very best.

On 44mins, Ben Towler carried the ball forward and was able to play in Alex Banyard who smashed his shot from outside of the area and into the corner to give Coggeshall a 1-0 lead. Hoddesdon did respond well with Blue Gallagher going closet with a shot narrowly wide, but the whistle blew for half time shortly after another good save from Liam Nugent at the other end.

Coggeshall continued to demonstrate crisp passing and movement in the second half although Hoddesdon were still finding some joy through Harrison Cage, Arnis Lala and Harry Carter. The decisive goals were to come in quick succession midway through the half though. On 64mins, James Long hit another excellent shot that found the back of the net from distance. Three minutes later, after Long had failed to convert a much more straightforward chance, Alex Banyard converted his second from a cross by Josh Ambrose. 0-3.

Hoddesdon have frequently shown resiliency and the ability to fightback this season, and hope flickered once more as Harry Carter made no mistake after he was on the end of a low cross from the right after 70 minutes. 1-3.

Substitute Baily Eden hit a sweetly struck effort in the 83rd minute but Peglar made an excellent save to deny him and divert the ball over the bar. Fellow substitute Jonah Evans treated the home fans to a surging run from the back as The Lilywhites were pushing hard in the final stages. It was to end 3-1 to the visitors though.

There is another home game to come on Saturday as we host Basildon Town, so come and join us for that one as we cheer on the side to a strong finish to the season (and help us finish up the bar stock). Up The Hoddy!

George Hamill was the HTFC Man of the Match.
HTFC Team: Nugent – Agnew (Riddle ‘61) – Barnett (Evans ‘72) – Collins – Gibbs © – Cage (Eden ‘61) – Gallagher – Hamill – Bolton (Sterling ‘35) – Carter – Lala (Bennison ‘61)