A 5 star performance saw Chelmsford City notch up Robbie Simpson’s biggest league win at the helm of the Claret and White Army with a 5-0 win over Eastbourne Borough.
The return to Robbie in the dugout also saw City revisit a back four after switching to a three midweek at Tonbridge, which didn’t give the desired outcome. Jazzi Barnum-Bobb, Kai Yearn and Tom Blackwell were replaced with Harry Lodovica, Henry Ochieng and Jamie Yila. Ultimately, City’s downfall midweek was a lack of goals, so the changes upfront were somewhat necessary. Tuesday night was only the third time all season that Chelmsford had not hit the back of the net, in all competitions.
Chelmsford had a fast start and straight away, their attacking threat was obvious with great early linkup. Eastbourne had the first real chance, only 3 minutes in and Jake Hutchinson had beaten the back line and got himself through, only to cut back and scuff his attempted shot posing no danger to the Clarets. However, City showed their class as Eduino Vaz found Charlie Ruff who attempted a 1-2 with Harry Lodovica only for it to deflect through to Harry and he slotted the ball past Lee Worgan into the bottom right corner to give City an early breakthrough, being 1-0 up after just 8 minutes.
Eastbourne then looked to get up the field however, they were thwarted by Simeon Jackson who received a yellow card after pulling an opposition player’s shirt. The resulting free kick was cleared by Dave Winfield to the feet of Henry Ochieng who started the Chelmsford counter-attack. He then found Jamie Yila who produced a beautiful cross field switch, which landed perfectly at the feet of Simeon Jackson who looked up and fired the ball into the box where Charlie Ruff managed to poke it into the back of the net, making it 2-0 to the Clarets. Ruff’s goal made it 6 in the last 7 home games for the attacking midfielder.
Soon after doubling the lead, City’s clean sheet was nearly cleaned out as James Hammond’s cross was met by the head of Alex Wynter whose header looked destined to nestle in the net but hit the post and rebounded into the safe hands of Ovie Ejeheri. Arguably one of the best chances all game. The Clarets then went straight up the other end and produced yet another superb chance, yet again, there was stunning linkup as Harry Lodovica played it to Simeon Jackson who found Charlie Ruff. Charlie sat the ball up to the back post where it looked like Jamie Yila had to scored but Wynter rose excellently to flick the ball away.
The visitors looked to come forward once again and thy had a good free kick opportunity was delivered by James Hammond and Bradley Barry got the better of his man and was able to set up Shiloh Remy who forced Ovie Ejeheri to spring into action and palm his effort over the bar. Chelmsford seemed to take their foot off the gas as no real chances arose until James Vaughan brought down Charlie Ruff resulting in a Clarets free kick. Quick thinking from Cameron James allowed Simeon Jackson to fire the ball across the box, only for it to narrowly miss Ade Oluwo and trickle out for a goal kick. That concluded the first half action with the score still at 2-0 to City.
Chelmsford started the second half much like the first and were all over Eastbourne. No real clear cut chances came to the clarets until, with 10 second half minutes played, Jamie Yila cut in and beat 3 Eastbourne defenders and hit a fierce effort at Worgan, only for the ex-City keeper to turn it behind. He was not to be missed wearing his fluorescent orange gear and he attempted to command his box from the resulting corner, but it was met by Winfield who could only put it behind for a goal kick. However, he was beaten eventually as a Charlie Ruff corner was met by the head of Ade Oluwo and his header took a slight deflection before beating Worgan. With a 3-0 lead and the 3 points all but in the bag, Robbie chose to rest both Liam Trotter who never fails to perform, and Charlie Ruff who has been on his superb scoring run. Kai Yearn came on as well as a return from injury for midfielder Louis Dunne.
Not even 180 seconds later and City had their fourth for the day. After some quick play, Louis Dunne won Chelmsford a corner, which subsequently was delivered by Eduino Vaz, onto the head of Simeon Jackson who got a much-deserved goal. City were brought straight down from cloud nine as central defender Ade Oluwo went down, needing to be subbed off. Jazzi Barnum-Bobb got an appearance as Cameron James moved to centre back. Luckily, Ade confirmed in his post-match interview he will be fine and back for City’s upcoming games.
Finally, after Eastbourne’s lacklustre attempted attacks, Chelmsford got another great chance. Kai Yearn got free on the edge of the box and his shot was deflected, falling to Harry Lodovica who was tackled. Then the ball ricocheted to Jamie Yila who put his effort under the keeper and into the back of the net. Eastbourne’s Halloween horror show was topped off with less than 5 on the clock. Not long after and referee Stephen Parkinson brought the game to an end as Robbie Simpson’s men returned to winning ways at the EMG Inspire stadium. The Clarets face a trip to Bath on Tuesday before a massive FA Cup tie away to Barnet, a game in which everyone is looking forward to.
A great end to a good week for Robbie in which he and his wife welcomed their second child, Louie! Massive congratulations to Robbie and Nicola!
by