Our second league game of the season saw Rovers away at the Len Salmon Stadium home of Bowers and Pitsea fc. Despite its location the ground is one of the quirkier ones for away teams to visit. I quite like it.

As usual a game against Bowers is very much like Forrest Gumps box of chocolates ‘ You never know what your’e gonna get!’ However what we did get was the proverbial ‘Game of two halves’.

Rovers won the toss and were playing in their away kit of Orange and Black and had one change to the line up that defeated Tower Hamlets at the weekend with the returning George Artemi who has signed for the club on a dual contract from Canvey Island replacing the injured Ty Benjamin in midfield.

The first few exchanges saw Rovers in control with Dan Trenkel and Billy Johnson hassling the Bowers back line from the off and it was Jay Smith who had the first shot of the game from a Stu Hepburn throw which went over.

On five minutes Rovers were awarded a free kick out wide for a foul on Smith. Ash Hawkins delivered a superb cross for the marauding Hepburn to head home past Bowers keeper Ollie Bowles, on loan from Concord, 1-0 Rovers.

There was very little action in the Rovers half as they were completely dominant in fact the only early action was on the flank with James Pugsley getting some pelters from team mates Lewis Sparrow and Ty Benjamin ,who were sitting in the stand, about his choice of hairstyle!

Another free kick on ten minutes to Rovers saw another Hawkins delivery met by Billy Radley which went just wide.

Rovers were in complete control playing some nice football leaving keeper Adam Seal a spectator in his own half and Ash Hawkins seemed to be running the show in the middle of the park with some superb passing and strong runs of his own. In fact there was very little incident as Rovers moved the ball around nicely.

Then on twenty five minutes the ball headed to the inform Billy Johnson and with crys of ‘lay it off’ he decided not to and with his back to goal performed and acrobatic overhead kick from twenty yards out which looped over Bowles and into the net. Goal of the season in the second game of the season surely? Even the Bowers fans applauded. 2-0 to Rovers.

Rovers continued to attack with Hepburn, Hawkins, Johnson all having chances however Bowers first chance came in an unlikely manner. Bowers Dale Gladen fouled Billy Radley picking up a booking in the process however the resulting free kick was poor and Bowers broke away and won a corner. Keeper Adam Seal cleared not very convincingly and Bowers Jamie Buffin picked up the loose ball only to foul Stu Hepburn in the process allowing Rovers to clear via a free kick.

On 40 minutes the now prolific Billy Johnson picked up the ball and with a superb left foot shot from 25 yards fired past Bowles to make it 3-0 to Rovers and yet another contender for goal of the season. Johnson is on fire!!!

The Villagers were now in total cruise control and a shell shocked Bowers had no answer and on forty four minutes the ‘Orange tide’ swept forward and Jay Smiths shot was tipped round the post for a corner. From the resulting corner by Hawkins, Smith was to head in at the near post for 4-0 Rovers and his first for the club. Well done Jay.

Rovers saw out the remaining minutes of the half in total control and went into the break full of satisfaction.

Bowers kicked off the second half and immediately you could see that they decided to have a go and looked positive.

On forty seven minutes the already battered and bruised Trenkel took another blow to what looked like his nose. Those who feared for his good looks were quickly relieved to see him stand up and continue.

Bowers continued to press and on fifty minutes Stu Hepburn denied the Bowers attack with an absolute thunder bolt of a challenge, firm and fair, which left those watching wincing themselves.

On fifty one minutes Bowers pressure paid off and George Lights deflected shot from outside the box found its way past Adam Seal to make the score 4-1.

Bowers had a new found belief and Rovers were rattled and the home side made their first change bringing Brad Hooper on for Jamie Buffin who had appeared to take a knock.

The home side struck again on 60 minutes as they broke through on goal and Ashley Blackburn shot past Adam Seal making it 4-2.

At this point Rovers made a change and Dan Williams came on to replace Billy Johnson and Gary Ansell set about re-arranging things as the Rovers midfield had gone missing in an attempt to stem the Bowers pressure and try and settle Rovers down. However a couple of minutes later Rovers were forced into another change as Billy Radley appeared to tweak a hamstring and was replaced by Joe Skeels.

The Bowers team were peppering the box with crosses which began causing Adam Seal lots of problems and Rovers were living on their nerves which showed as they resorted to diving into tackles and giving away silly free kicks and much of the action became stifled in the middle of the pitch with play lacking width and Bowers again went really close on seventy two minutes. Rovers were playing Russian Roulette!

On seventy five Rovers attacked and some great persistence from Ash Hawkins on the left produced a glorious chance for Dan Williams who stroked the ball home to make the score 5-2 Rovers and surely secure the three points.

The home side then seemed resigned to defeat and Rovers took control of the game again with Hawkins seemingly involved in everything Rovers were doing and with Bowers now resorting to

hopeful punts forward they made another change with Michael Solako being replaced by Brad Cranfield.

Rovers had a few more chances via Dan Williams, Dan Trenkel, and Jay Smith and the Rovers Man of the Match Ash Hawkins but couldn’t find the elusive sixth and when the final whistle went on 94 minutes it remained 5-2 to Rovers.

So its two out of two for Rovers with seven goals scored and a great start to the season its on to the FA Cup next and a fixture with Halsted at Burroughs on the 17th of August.

ROVERS
1. Adam Seal
2. James Pugsley
3. Max Kent
4. George Artemi
5. Stuart Hepburn
6. Nick Skelton (c)
7. Billy Radley
8. Jay Smith
9. Dan Trenkel
10. Ashley Hawkins
11. Billy Johnson

12. Carl Reid
14. Joe Skeels (On for Radley, 65)
15. Harry Skinner
16. Dan Williams (On for Johnson, 62)

BOWERS & PITSEA:Ollie Bowles, George Light, Dale Gladen, Adrian Griffiths (c), Dan Jolley, Paul Shaves, Alfie Hilton, Charlie Fricker, Michael Salako, Jamie Blaffin, Ashley Blackburn
Substitutes: Brad Hooper, Gary Strongman, Brad Cranfield, Dale Lee, Richard Neil

Bookings:

Sent Off:

Referee: Daniel Keeble
Assistants: Alex Haynes & Rob Bradley

Attendance: 60

Rovers Man of the Match: Ashley Hawkins