IT was so nearly a very good Saturday for us with Ware drawing and a similar fate awaiting Dartford until they did an Arsenal and scored in the last minute whilst we comfortably picked up all the points.

IT was so nearly a very good Saturday for us with Ware drawing and a similar fate awaiting Dartford until they did an Arsenal and scored in the last minute whilst we comfortably picked up all the points.

Stuart Boardley was out with shin splints and Simon Head replaced him. The surprise inclusion on the bench was Darren Bethell who came on with 15 minutes to go and looked quite sharp.

Considering Brentwood Town are one of the play-off contenders, they rarely troubled us, indeed, although they put us under more pressure in the second half, Nathan Munson had to wait until the 70th minute to make a save.

I thought we played well in the first period and deserved to be more than 2 - 0 up. The quality of our first goal was worth the cost of admission alone. Luke Hammond fought to win the ball just inside Brentwood's half and Matty Clements took over and swerved his way through their defence and slid the ball under the keeper.

Jamie Rowe scored our other two to take his tally to 25 League goals and his second was a very good solo effort. Gareth Simpson was the match sponsors, Cornard Bowls' club's Man of the Match, but I thought David Head was outstanding and showed again why he should always play at centre-back.

We now have a run of four difficult League games with Canvey on Saturday, Ware seven days' later, both away, Enfield Town at home on the 22nd March and then Easter Monday there is a trip to Bury Town.

If we can continue our unbeaten run over this period then we will have gone a long way to achieving our goal. There is a double-header at Canvey as our Supporters Club are playing their Supporters in the morning.

Our Reserves did a remarkable turnaround at Haverhill Rovers on Saturday, having the week before lost 4 - 0, they went to Rovers and won 3 - 1 with two goals coming from Danny Stokes and the other Steve Joyce.

The Reserves are at home on Saturday against Wivenhoe and at home again on the 12th against Tiptree.

The Club has been honoured by the FA who have requested us to host the prestigious FA Carlsberg Sunday Cup semi-final between Brantham Colts and Coundon Conservatives from Durham with the winners playing at Anfield in the final.

This tie will take place on Sunday, March 16, KO 2 pm, with admission £3 and £1 concessions. A couple of Brantham players will be able to make use of local knowledge with their keeper, Ryan Beddington, having played occasionally for us whilst their best player is Michael Brothers.