EVEN with captain Lee Waddingham missing, Dunmow managed to extend their unbeaten run to five games thanks to goals from Michael Church and Scott Geraghty.

Mid Essex League

Dunmow FC 2 Burnham Ramblers 1

EVEN with captain Lee Waddingham missing, Dunmow managed to extend their unbeaten run to five games thanks to goals from Michael Church and Scott Geraghty.

The hosts rose to 7th in division five after welcoming back two players who have not kicked a ball since October for this mid-table battle.

Tom Le Maurnier fitted back into the side ‘like he’d never been away’ and, with Andy Harvey, controlled the midfield for the majority of the first half.

Some of Dunmow’s passing was a little wayward to begin with, however when they got it right the hosts were able to open up Burnham’s defence with ease.

This they did after 20 minutes when Le Maurnier played a nice triangle with Dan Moss and Henry Anidjar Romain, allowing Moss to fly down the left wing.

When challenged at the byline Moss played an intelligent pass back to Le Maurnier who whipped in a great cross that Will Green narrowly missed converting.

Dunmow’s pressure told and after 30 minutes when Michael Church continued his fine goal scoring run by converting another Le Maurnier pass, beating the keeper at the right hand post.

Dunmow continued to press with Harvey winning the ball in midfield and releasing Le Maurnier down the right wing.

A clipped cross into the middle of the six-yard-box found a leaping Geraghty who guided the ball back across goal past the despairing keeper.

Burnham looked dead and buried but Dunmow conspired to lose all concentration and were very lucky that alert defending from Chris Taylor and Matthew Coopersmith and smart keeping from Matthew Boreham kept Burnham at bay before half time.

Dunmow could not shake themselves out of their lethargy in the second half and Burnham halved the lead after 20 minutes. The home side now found themselves under considerable pressure, but it looked like they would regain their two goal lead when Will Green was brought down in the penalty area.

Unfortunately Harvey blazed the resulting penalty over the bar and the home supporters had to endure a tense final 10 minutes before the final whistle confirmed the three points.

Next: Dunmow travel to Marconi Athletic on Saturday. Kick off 2pm.