sevenoaks260305

 Professional performance by ten-man Beckenham
 
A professional performance allowed Beckenham Town to overcome a physical Sevenoaks Town side in this Go Travel Kent Premier League match at Eden Park Avenue.

Beckenham settled down very quickly and began to dominate and play the ball around with confidence.

Chances fell to both Paul Vines and Lewis Wood but it was Daniel  Beszant who opened the scoring after 35 minutes with a powerful volley from outside the area that left the visitors keeper rooted to the spot.

The second goal looked inevitable as Beckenham Town were pushing forward with wing-backs Nathan Paul and Asher Edwards finding space to fire over telling crosses.
 
With five minutes to go before the break double disaster struck for Beckenham when Tony Sinclair was shown a red-card for a professional foul on a Sevenoaks forward. From the resulting free kick via a rebound the visitors equalised.
 
At half-time Beckenham Town manager Kevin Sugrue resisted temptation to tamper with the system that had been working very well.

While Sevenoaks, with the one man advantage started to show, the confidence that was missing in the first period but never really looked like adding another goal.

Beckenham Town’s man-of the-match Martin West soaked up any pressure in the hub of defence while the front runners continued to create chances but could not capitalise.

But then after 55 minutes Edwards took the initiative, charging forward down the left and hitting a powerful shot from the edge of the area past the outstretched keeper to put the home side into a well deserved lead.

Edwards nearly made it three when he chipped the keeper from 20 yards only to watch as his attempt skimmed the bar.
 
It looked as if Beckenham were going to settle for the one goal advantage when a series of substitutions were made with Adam Heaselwood reverting to a sweepers role, Matthew Belton joining Paul Smith in the centre of midfield to tighten things up and Darren Hall going it alone up front and holding the ball up well. Despite a few scares and what seemed like a never ending added time Town left the pitch victorious.
 
Beckenham Town's assistant manager Jason Taylor said “ We played far better on Tuesday evening and lost. Today we knew we were not playing very well but we did not allow ourselves to get frustrated and stuck to our game plan.

"I have no complaints about the sending off but you have to remember that not only did we concede when we had ten men we took the lead with ten men and continued to dominate. I feel that if we had of avoided the red card we could have scored far more“.

Meanwhile, Beckenham Town's reserve side reached the final of the Kent League Reserve Division cup after beating Slade Green in a two-legged semi-final.  Billy Bateman getting the winner.  They will clash with local rivals Bromley in the final at Chatham Town's Maidstone Road ground on Saturday 23rd April (3pm).


Beckenham Town: Hopper, Paul, West, Forbes, Sinclair, Edwards, Smith, Heaselwood, Beszant, Wood, Vines. Subs: Cooney, Hall, Belton