ESSEX SENIOR LEAGUE - THE SEASON SO FAR

POSITION	TEAM	P	GD	PTS
1	HARINGEY BOROUGH	9	+29	24
2	HULLBRIDGE SPORTS	9	+6	18
3	CLAPTON	7	+8	16
4	FC ROMANIA	6	+18	15
5	BARKING	6	+10	14
6	STANSTED	7	+5	14
7	NEWHAM	8	-11	12
8	ILFORD	8	-3	11
9	BOWERS AND PITSEA	5	+3	8
10	TAKELEY	7	-3	8
11	TOWER HAMLETS	7	-4	8
12	LONDON BARI	6	0	7
13	SAWBRIDGEWORTH TOWN	6	-1	7
14	WALTHAM FOREST	8	-4	7
15	BASILDON UNITED	7	-7	6
16	SOUTHEND MANOR	7	-6	5
17	ENFIELD 1893	6	-9	5
18	ETON MANOR	6	-11	4
19	GREENHOUSE LONDON	8	-15	3
20	SPORTING BENGAL	5	-5	2

Haringey Borough lead the way in the Essex Senior League with a record of eight wins and one defeat from their opening nine games and an amazing goal difference of +29. Their closest rivals are third placed Clapton, fourth placed FC Romania and fifth placed Barking. If they win their games in hand Clapton would be on a points total of 22, FCR on 23 and Barking on 22. Borough's only defeat this season came on Saturday 20th September when FC Romania recorded a narrow 0-1 victory at Coles Park - this defeat ended an amazing 27 game unbeaten run in the league for the North London side. The record breaking run included Tom Loizou's side breaking Basildon United's run of 17 consecutive league victories which The Bees had held since 1996. Borough's 1-10 victory at Enfield 1893 on Saturday 23rd August 2014 was their eighteenth on the spin and they extended in to twenty-one league wins in a row prior to the FC Romania game. It is highly unlikely this record will ever be broken? Ex Enfield Town striker Walid Matata also equalled a record in this match with his seven goal haul the same as Ilford's Chris Stevens all time scoring record. It was also the first time since Wood Green Town and Edmonton merged in the 1970's to form the club we now know as Haringey Borough have scored double figures.

Prior to the game their last league defeat at home came on Tuesday 1st October 2013 which coincidentally also came against FC Romania (1-2). What is good to see is the crowd for the 2013 game was 23 compared to 78 who attended in 2014 which is an incredible increase of 239.13%. Below are some excellent highlights of Haringey Borough's 'away' victory at Greenhouse London yesterday (courtesy of @That_Bald_Owl)



Hullbridge Sports are currently in second place and are currently on a four game winning run. Their next games come next weekend at Takeley (who they defeated 2-1 yesterday - the reason for the quick turnaround of game is it has been rearranged due both sides being out of the FA Vase) and the then on Saturday 11th October they host Haringey Borough at Lower Road.

As stated it's Clapton, Barking and FC Romania who are probably best placed to give Haringey a run for their money in the race for the title. FC Romania, who up until last Thursday's shock home 1-2 home defeat versus Tower Hamlets had a 100% winning record, are in the best position. Perhaps they had one eye on their big Saturday FA Cup game against Conference South side Sutton United which allowed the East Londoners to get the win. Sutton raced into a 0-3 lead in the game which attracted a crowd of 434 to Theobalds Lane with the home side giving their more illustrious opponents a real scare scoring on 50 and 80 minutes to make it a nervy end to the game.

SOME FACTS AND STATISTICS ABOUT THE SEASON SO FAR 

CURRENTLY UNDEFEATED - BARKING

CURRENTLY WITHOUT A WIN - SPORTING BENGAL UTD

CURRENTLY WITHOUT A HOME WIN - TAKELEY, BASILDON UNITED, SOUTHEND MANOR, SPORTING BENGAL UTD

CURRENTLY WITHOUT AN AWAY WIN - SPORTING BENGAL UTD, GREENHOUSE LONDON, ENFIELD 1893, ETON MANOR, LONDON BARI.

MOST GOALS SCORED - HARINGEY BORUGH (37)

MOST GOALS CONCEDED - GREENHOUSE LONDON (24)

LEAST GOALS SCORED - SPORTING BENGAL UTD (3)

LEAST GOALS CONCEDED - BARKING, BOWERS & PITSEA, FC ROMANIA (4)

The next month sees some games take place between the sides who are towards the top of the table - the results of which will effect where teams finish. There is the aforementioned clash between Hullbridge Sports and Haringey Borough as well as Borough entertaining Barking on Tuesday 4th November. On Saturday 25th October FC Romania host Clapton at Theobalds Lane which is bound to be a memorable match between two sides with noisy passionate fans and Hullbridge Sports playing Barking which should be a decent game between two of the current top five sides.

It's a case of top v bottom this week as Thursday night football comes to White Hart Lane (it's not just Tottenham Hotspur then!!) when Haringey Borough host Sporting Bengal United who are the only side without a win. They revisit Coles Park on Wednesday 8th October for a basement battle with Greenhouse London which is when they have the better chance of getting the win that has eluded them so far.