Urchins go into Christmas frustrated

Hornchurch will go into the Christmas weekend on the back of their FA Trophy defeat at Ashford Town (Middx), after seeing their latest two games fall victim to the arctic weather.

Urchins had their Ryman Premier Division clash at Sutton frozen off at the weekend and saw their Essex Senior Cup tie at Concord postponed for a third time in midweek.

And manager Jimmy McFarlane will be on edge this weekend, hoping Monday’s clash with Aveley can go ahead.

He said: “The FA Trophy game was one of those things.

“They didn’t have a shot for 90 minutes and Darren [Behcet] didn’t have a shot to save.

“Sometimes you can’t do no more. How do you have a go at someone like Martin Tuohy for missing a few chances when he’ll probably end up getting you 25-30 goals over the course of the season?

“I was disappointed with our bookings [Hornchurch had seven in total]. The referee was out of his depth and I had a little go, but Colin [McBride] said they were never bookings.

“I spoke to the assessor, who I knew from my playing days, before the game and he said to me ‘he’s a good one’.

“But I said to him at half-time, I thought he was awful. Every manager gets them during a season.”