12 February 2011

WITH the departed Murat Karagul notching two for his new club Wingate & Finchley there was an apparently obvious reason for this abject defeat.  But the striker’s departure was only part of the problem with injuries and suspensions accounting for a number of new faces in a Ware line-up that clearly needed more time to gel.

Ware’s failure to turn possession into goals slowly undermined confidence at the back and Maldon & Tiptree’s experienced players exploited the situation to claim an eventual hatful for themselves.

So, two clubs with double barrelled names made it a day to forget for Ware who for good measure failed to fire from either of their own two barrels.  Ryan Wade played behind new signing Emiel Aiken and prompted well but the visitors were always quick to get men behind the ball to snuff things out.  Consequently Aiken didn’t get enough ammunition and had a quiet game.  He clearly needs to get to know his team mates if Ware are to get anything out of the former Grays player.

At least Luke Marshall was firing from the hip, shimmying past Adw Osifuiwa in the early part of the game before the Maldon number three got wise to him.  After that the contest between the two became the only absorbing part of a game where neither side rose to any heights.

Ware just about shaded the first half in terms of territory and possession but even so they rarely troubled Tony Tucker, the former Redbridge goalkeeper.  On the other hand Maldon did create a couple of near misses so it wasn’t entirely surprising when they took the lead in the 44th minute.  A poor clearance fell to Ollie Berquez who made room on the edge of the box before looping the ball beyond an unsighted Obey Murefu.

A resurgence at the beginning of the second half suggested the home side might make a game of it and chances were created.  The best of these came when Gazmend Dauti headed just over from a Wade free kick after ten minutes.

But Ware’s inability to clear their lines allowed Maldon to apply prolonged pressure unnecessarily and just past the hour mark Murefu was exposed and conceded a penalty when bringing down Chris Chase.  Berquez doubled his and his side’s tally from the spot and the writing was on the wall for Ware.

James Abbott added a third on 76 minutes and Joe Sweeney completed the scoring with a minute of normal time to go as Ware’s defensive composure collapsed.  Rob Kemble had put in a decent strike for Tucker to collect just before that but, as they say, it was too little too late.

Ware: Murefu, Clemo, J Berry, Price, Turpin, S Berry, Marshall, Ruff (Stephane 73 mins), Aiken, Wade, Dauti (Kemble 59 mins).  Unused subs: Sargent, Ormand (GK)