Quick Chats Double Sinks Ramblers - Burnham Ramblers vs. Chatham Town

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For my final match of my 'holiday week', I ventured in to The Crouch Valley for the Ryman League Division One North match between Burnham Ramblers vs Chatham Town. This was Burnham's first season at this level following their Essex Senior League triumph the previous season. The Ramblers have had no problems adapting to their new level of football and found themselves comfortably in mid table. Chatham weren't having as a good season and were in the bottom five before kick off but they did manage to reach the fourth qualifying round of The FA Cup. Several Easters ago I made the trip to The Medway for a game between Chatham Town and Walton Casuals when The Chats were in the Southern section of The Ryman League.

Kick off at Leslie Field

Chatham have a couple of half chances in the opening stages of the match but neither seriously trouble the Burnham keeper. Burnham then have their first chance when the visiting keeper doesn't fully deal with a header and the follow up is luckily straight at him. The visitors then take the lead with a long range effort which is deflected past the stranded Burnham keeper. Almost immediately it becomes two nil when the forward beats the offside trap and he is able to round the keeper and put the ball in to the net. Chatham have a couple of efforts to double their towards the end of the half. Firstly they have a long range shot which is easily saved and then an effort from the edge of the box which is hit straight at the keeper. 

Further covered accommodation down one side of the pitch

Burnham win an early free kick in the second half and from the resulting cross in to the box the ball is taken off the head of the centre forward by one of his own players. The Burnham keeper then suffers an injury while kicking the ball and is replaced by an outfield player rather than the sub keeper. Chatham then put a brilliant ball in to the box but the Burnham centre back is able to get a critical touch to take it away from the striker. The Burnham keeper then fails to fully gather the ball and a couple of seconds later he gives away a penalty with a silly challenge. The penalty is put away and Burnham are back in the game. Burnham then push for an equaliser and come close with a header following a long ball forward. They then have an even better headed chance when the forward puts his free header wide of the goal. In the dying seconds the hosts are reduced to ten men when the player commits a dangerous two footed challenge and the visitors see out the rest of the game.

The Chatham keeper spectacularly punches the ball away.

Burnham is located on the River Crouch and it is well worth having a walk along the river side and the High Street. On the river side is The Anchor Hotel which has a couple of ales on and provides a good view of The River Crouch There are no direct trains to Burnham-on-Crouch. You have to take a train to Wickford from Liverpool Street and catch another train to Burnham-on-Crouch. There are two trains an hour and the journey takes just over an hour. The walk from the station to Leslie Field takes around fifteen minutes. The clubhouse is located outside the ground and had Sky Sports. While waiting for the train to Wickford, I popped in to The Railway Hotel which was popular with the locals and did the job.

Burnham produced the third great programme of the week. There was a lot of good reading including an interesting article regarding the club possibly moving to a new ground and there was also a decent quiz!

Side on view of the stand