On Saturday afternoon, Southend Manor fell to a 4-1 defeat to Walthamstow in the Essex Senior League at Southchurch Park.

New signing Reece Latimer finally made his home debut following his move from Aveley over a few weeks ago with new signing Ben Richardson being moved onto the bench given Fahad Nyanja was unavailable.

Marc Nurse-Moore was also having his first game as a coach for Manor since coming in as part of Manor boss Michael Walther’s backroom management team on Thursday night.

The opening 15 minutes of the game were bright for both teams with an equal share of possession and spirited chances. The most notable attempt was when former-Canvey Island and Stansted forward Callum Ibe broke free and shot a strike at the Manor goal with keeper Patrick Stephenson safely securing the ball into his hands.

14 minutes later the visitors were given a penalty following a foul in the area. Dwade James, who scored a hat-trick against Manor in his last game against us back in April, struck the ball into the opposite direction to that of Stephenson to make it 1-0.

Manor went in at half-time at losing 1-0 in terrible conditions which consisted of strong wind and torrential yet persistently light rain. The second-half began with both teams attempting to make the most out of the terrible weather to their advantage.

With just over 10 minutes left, Walthamstow were given another penalty after Stephenson managed to wipe out Ibe in the area. Yet again, James slotted the ball away to make it 2-0.

Just as things were tough, things got even tougher two minutes later as Ope Musuro, one of only two Manor players who had last played Walthamstow in the game back in April, was sent off for a challenge on a Walthamstow player. Manor were down to 10 men.

Three minutes later saw a notable substitution take place for Walthamstow. Coming off was Ollie Fortune and coming on was notable Manor favourite Mo Kargbo, who had played a crucial role in fighting relegation  last season.

A minute on saw Manor take a smash and grab moment as they managed to grab a goal back in the form of Larry Akanbi. Was it game on with five minutes left on the clock?

But a couple of mintues later, those hopes faded as James fell in the penalty area leading to the referee to give a penalty. James dusted himself down before stepping up to grab himself a hat-trick of spot-kicks – 3-1.

As the game emerged into the fifth added minute of stoppage time, Walthamstow managed to grab a fourth of the game as a free-kick was driven in only to be met with Emiel Aiken, who slotted the ball past Stephenson in fine fashion in front of the travelling Waltham Rabble fans.

Manor had lost for the second home game on the trot under the scoreline of 4-1 but all in all, it was a spirited performance which had seen improvements from previous weeks.

Manor get a chance to redeem themselves in front of their home crowd on Tuesday night when they host Hoddesdon Town in the Errington Cup.