Beckenham Town 0-3 Erith Town - We stood up and were counted tonight, says Mark Tompkins

BECKENHAM TOWN  0-3  ERITH TOWN
Southern Counties East Football League
Tuesday 17^th September 2013
Stephen McCartney reports from Eden Park Avenue

ERITH TOWN manager Mark Tompkins praised his side’s resilience after they came away from struggling Beckenham Town with a 3-0 victory despite having their goalkeeper sent off after sixteen minutes.

The Dockers maintained their unbeaten start to their Southern Counties East Football League campaign to climb two places into second place with 17 points from seven games, a point behind leaders Phoenix Sports, who suffered their third league defeat of the season at Whyteleafe tonight.

A brilliant man-of-the-match display from substitute goalkeeper Daniel Clark – after former Chelmsford City keeper Tom Warren was red-carded for a professional foul outside the box – kept out dominant Beckenham Town.

Erith Town were clinical at the other end, as two goals from Rikki Cable – taking his goalscoring tally to nine for the season – and a James Holder header sent Beckenham Town plummeting into the bottom two, with four points from eight league games.

“I will say they are the best side we’ve played this year by a long way with the way they pass the ball,” admitted Tompkins.

“It’s difficult. To get the keeper sent off early doors, we dug in there, but they did pass the ball around really well.

“It was a good defensive display by us but they’re going to beat a lot of sides.  I’m really surprised by some of their results they’ve had.

“Good win.  Three points for us, but they’re going to take points off the top teams as well.”

Beckenham Town boss Jason Huntley was a frustrated figure at the final whistle.

He said: “It’s the story of our season so far!  We’ve played like that in every game and unfortunately we’ve got beat in every game apart from two so it’s a big of a mystery for us at the moment.

“We didn’t take our chances, a little bit of that,” added Huntley.

“They defended well second half and the keeper had a great game. The keeper probably got man-of-the-match for them so it tells its own story.

“We must have created 15-16 chances second half and if we had got that chance when we kicked off second half, we had three very good chances.”

Beckenham Town started well and created the first chance inside the opening four minutes when Jamie Turner drove a corner in from the right, which was cleared away and Phil McBean’s right-footed volley screamed well wide of the right-hand post from 25-yards.

Frankie Warren then played the ball into Jamie Humphries’ feet and the Beckenham striker hit a speculative right-footed drive from 35-yards, which was comfortably gathered by Tom Warren.

But Tom Warren suffered a rush of blood after he saw Humphries’ through ball release Jake Britnell through the middle and the keeper rushed out of his box and sent Britnell crashing to the ground.

Despite Erith Town left-back Conrad Lee getting back behind his troubled keeper, Bromley-based referee Adam Bakalarz produced a red-card for the keeper.

Huntley said: “The lad deserved to go. We don’t like seeing people sent off but the law now is now the main covering.  Apparently if you prevent a goalscoring opportunity which Jake would have gone and slotted it into an empty net.”

Tompkins said: “If it was going the other way, I think I’d be disappointed if the keeper hadn’t been sent off. I thought it was a straight red, straight away.”

Tompkins acted quickly and sacrificed striker Kofi Quartey, so former Cray Valley striker Matt Knuckey was left to fight for scraps up front on his own for the remainder of the game.

Tompkins added: “He (Knuckey) was superb. He worked really hard up there. When you go one up you just need someone up there that runs about. He was the one that got the third goal.”

When asked why he sacrificed Quartey, Tompkins replied: “I didn’t want to! Bad luck on Kofi.  I had to put another keeper on, who do we pull off?  We went one up front. We knew Matt would work the line really well and that proved to be the case.”

Tompkins said of his substitute keeper, “He was superb! Some people ask me why he was on the bench with displays like that!

“We always have a keeper on the bench and luckily enough we did.”

Clark was immediately called into action when he stepped to his left and stuck out his arm to tip over Humphries’ resulting right-footed free-kick from 25-yards to prevent the ball sailing into the top right-hand corner.

However, Erith Town grabbed the lead in the 20^th minute following a set-piece.

Skipper Russell Bedford hurled a throw into the penalty area which was flicked on at the near post by James Holder and Cable was left unmarked at the far post to hook his right-footed shot across goal to find the far corner.

Tompkins said: “He scores goals!  We work on that long throw.  We’ve got some big boys on our side and Russell’s got a long throw on him and we’ve scored a few goals like that this year. Albeit it was against the run of play again. The difference tonight was we took our chances – we only had three or four.  They had numerous chances.  I’ve got to say the ball was flying across our box numerous times but we stood up, chests out and we done really well defensively."

Huntley signalled out his defence for letting Cable have his chance.

He said: “He was actually on the edge of the box and I wasn’t happy about that because I had one man down. He shouldn’t be given space on the edge of the box if you’re one man down. There should be sufficient people to mark people.  They’re shouldn’t be people spare. They had a man less than us, so I wasn’t happy with the defending on that.”

Erith Town forced a corner in the 27^th minute, which ultimately lead them doubling their lead through Holder’s second goal of the season.

Calum O’Shea swung in the ball in from the left which wasn’t dealt with by diminutive Beckenham keeper Dan Conteh and Holder rose to plant his header into the roof of the net from two-yards out.

Tompkins added: “Again, James is six foot five, that’s why we send him up there. I did him out a lot. We don’t win enough headers in their box.  We got one tonight, he done well.”

Huntley felt his goalkeeper should have done better.

“The keeper should have come and done better there,” he said.

“He’s a young standby keeper at the moment. He lacks height. He’s a nice lad and he’s done a good job for us at the moment, but it’s always going to be hard when you come up against big sides and ultimately in the Kent League most sides you come up against are big strapping lads.”

Beckenham Town were profligate in front of goal on more than one occasion and their best first half chance arrived in the 33^rd minute when Nunn released Humphries through on goal, but he blasted his right-footed shot over the bar when he only had Clark to beat.

Understandably, the rest of the game belonged to Beckenham Town, with Erith Town’s central defensive pairing of Lee Coburn and especially Lewis Knight immense.

Tompkins said: “Superb. I think he can play higher but he just needs to get more consistency in his game, but if he plays like he did tonight then he won’t be with us for long.  He was superb tonight along with Lee Coburn tonight.

Warren played the ball inside to left-back Adam Wadmore who unleashed a right-footed drive from 35-yards, which zipped off the wet turf and forced Clark to dive to his left to make a comfortable low save.

Beckenham Town should have pulled a goal back three minutes before half-time when Wadmore clipped the ball over the top of Holder to release Warren down the left channel.

Substitute keeper Clark also had a rush of blood as he came sprinting out of his penalty area and failed to clear the ball away and Warren maintained his composure to stroke his right-footed shot towards the near post but Coburn raced back to clear the ball away from the edge of the six-yard box.

“That’s what we needed tonight,” added Tompkins.  “We needed players’ clearing their lines, off the line, putting their heads in because we were backs against the wall, but we stood up and be counted tonight.”

Tompkins feared that his side would have to soak up plenty of pressure during a one-sided second half and this proved to be the case.

He said: “I said at half-time, we’re down to ten, they’re going to come at us that’s for sure.  They’re a good side so we’ve just got to defend really well, clear our lines and just squeezes them and we did it really well.”

When asked what he said to his troops at the break, Huntley said: “Don’t panic!  Go out there, keep you’re passing game, go and play at a high-tempo. If you get the goals early, it’s important for us because we’ll go on from there and I think it showed. We came out and we pressed and pressed and pressed, they defended stoutly.”

Beckenham Town threw the kitchen skin at their fierce rivals, but Erith Town held firm and relied on Clark on numerous occasions to keep them the home side out.

The home side should have scored inside 80 seconds when James Marshall found Humphries down the right and his cross found Nunn unmarked inside the penalty box but his downward header from 12-yards was blocked by Clark’s legs.

Huntley said: “The header. Free header and he’s headed it down and the keeper’s put it over. Alfie, how he is, you expect him to finish that!”

Nunn then laid the ball off to Marshall and his right-footed drive was saved low down by Clark.

The early pressure continued and Warren – who insisted that he was fit enough to continue following a knock – was denied by Clark with not even three minutes on the clock.

Huntley added: “In the first five minutes of the second half we had three great opportunities. Three great chances. If one of them go in, the game’s a different game then.”

Erith Town broke through the hardworking Knuckey down the right and his left-footed angled drive forced Conteh to make the save beside the foot of his near post.

A penetrating run by Warren saw the ball run loose to Marshall inside the Docker’s penalty area but the Beckenham Town midfielder swept his shot past the far post.

Tackles started flying in and Clark was forced to dive low to his right to prevent Humphries scoring against his former club with a left-footed drive from 22-yards.

There were ugly scenes around the hour mark when Huntley had to be pulled away from his colleagues as he went to confront Tompkins over something that his opposite number said.

Both managers were asked their thoughts on the flashpoint.

Huntley said: “He was trying to get players’ sent off. I’ve known him a long time and he’s moaning at the ref. That’s no way to behave on the line. He’s done it before to me, that’s why I did have a go at him because no-one likes to see players get sent off. If they do and it’s on their own, then it’s fair enough, but you don’t want someone on the line trying to get someone sent off or booking someone that’s just unnecessarily. That’s not called for!”

Tompkins briefly added: “It’s just handbags. I was saying something about the yellow and he was saying something else about the yellow. It was nothing really.”

Clark pulled off yet another brilliant save in the 65^th minute when Humphries played the ball into Britnell, who twisted and turned before cutting the ball back to Warren, who bent a low right-footed shot towards the bottom far corner, but Clark dived full-length low to his right to push the ball around the post and out for a corner.

Beckenham Town continued to camp themselves inside Erith Town’s half and the longer the game went on it was clear that Erith Town would claim the points.

Beckenham Town midfielder McBean allowed the ball to run across his body before he cracked a left-footed drive from 25-yards, which Clark pushed over the bar, diving high to his right.

But Erith Town stunned Beckenham Town by grabbing a third goal inside the final six minutes, totally against the run of play.

O’Shea clipped the ball down the line to release Knuckey, who did well to hold the ball up before he swept the ball out to Cable, who then played the ball back to Knuckey, who hung the ball in the air for Cable to loop his header over the stricken keeper into the roof of the net.

Tompkins said: “It was a good goal. Again I would say it was against the run of play again, but we’ve managed to hit them again on the break and we’ve got the third goal and once that went in, it was a bit sigh of relief.

“I did feel all during the second half, if they got one I thought they could have gone and got two, three or four.”

Tompkins was full of praise for his two-goal striker.

He said: “Rikki Cable is Rikki Cable. When you see him he can look lazy but he just scores goals. He put a shift in tonight but if you give him a chance he scores doesn’t he?

“I’ve not set him a target. I know he’ll get a few. We’ve worked hard to get him down here. I would imagine he’ll get 20 plus easily.  He’s a really good finisher. If you get him inside the area it’s half a chance it’s going in the back of the net.”

Huntley said: “A ridiculous goal for us to concede because of our discipline. We only let one person at the back and as good as Nathan (Paul) is, he’s not superman and that’s what I was angry about.

“I’m angry about the result because we knew we didn’t deserve to lose that game and we know that and everyone who was watching us will tell you the same thing.

“But with 12 minutes to go, with two goals, you’re still in the game. To give a third goal away like we did to me is like Sunday morning football with everyone just following the ball and leaving one person on their own.  I’ve told the lads that’s not on.”

Beckenham Town continued to press and Erith Town kept their shape to form a resilient yellow and black wall in front of them.

Humphries cracked a powerful right-footed angled drive from 30-yards, which Clark dived high to his right to push away, before the keeper got down low to hold Wadmore’s left-footed drive from 30-yards at the death.

Had Beckenham scored an early goal during the second half then the floodgates might have happened.

Tompkins said: “When we’re playing against a side that move the ball about like that, you can’t go chasing because they’ll just play around you so it worked well for us at the end.

“We can’t just sit in like we did because if we play them again like that they will score goals that’s for sure, but on the night defensively we were really good and there were some big characters out there tonight.”

When asked whether Erith Town are serious title contenders this season, Tompkins replied: “I don’t know about that! We’re still in transition a little bit. When we took over from James Collins last year after Tony Russell so we’re trying to build a side together so we’ll be in there or there abouts.

“But when you play the likes of Beckenham, Corinthian, even Holmesdale, they’re good sides so they’re better footballing sides than we are.”

When asked what pleased him at a wet Eden Park Avenue this evening, Tompkins replied: “Just our defensively display. We knew we had to dig in. We said it at half-time and how well we did. We lost our shape, cleared our lines, threw our bodies in front of shots.

“I think they’re the best side we’ve played, so to come here there’s not going to be a lot of teams that come here and win 3-0, that’s for sure.  It was hearts on sleeves tonight and they threw bodies in front of things and it was quality.”

Huntley says he wants his side to turn the corner soon.

“Sometimes you get those games where keeper’s just have absolute worldy’s. The lad’s come on and he’s pulled off great saves,” he said.

“It’s frustrating for us at the moment because you can’t go in the changing room and have a go at them because what more can they do?  I know it’s a game’s result and I’ve told them you’ve got to look at the points. The table doesn’t lie. Games win points. Goals win games.”

Huntley was disappointed that his side couldn’t replicate their 5-0 home win over Rochester United at the weekend.

He said: “We thought we must’ve turned the corner on Saturday with the 5-0 win over Rochester. We said it was a matter of time where we thrashed somebody and we did do and we said onwards and upwards. Unfortunately it hasn’t worked out that way for us.

“We were confident tonight to get a result. Take nothing away from them second half, they defended very, very well. They kept their line, they kept their shape, they threw their bodies in. They wanted to win so good luck to them.  It wins you games as well!

“As well as going forwards, you have to have that at the back, people who want to die for you, get hit in the face, in the head and they certainly had that tonight and they’ve done well.

“They’ve probably deserved to win the game.  It was a one-sided game but at the end of the day they got the goals and they’ve kept a clean sheet and they’ve won the game. Simple as that! That’s the bottom line of football.  Keep a clean sheet and score goals.”

Beckenham Town: Dan Conteh, Jamie Turner (Richard Pearce 78), Adam Wadmore, Nathan Paul, Charlie Helps, Phil McBean, Frankie Warren (Damien Ramsamy 68), James Marshall, Jamie Humphries, Alfie Nunn, Jake Britnell.
Subs: Jason Rose, Leanne Lohourionon

Booked: Alfie Nunn 32, Frankie Warren 45, Nathan Paul 69

Erith Town: Tom Warren, James Holder (Steve Newman 46), Conrad Lee, Lewis Knight, Lee Coburn, Russell Bedford (Joseph Stephenson 71), Calum O’Shea, Bronek Debrowa, Kofi Quartey (Daniel Clark 17), Matt Knuckey, Rikki Cable.
Subs: Troy Copeland, Luke Coleman

Goals: Rikki Cable 20, 84, James Holder 27

Booked: Russell Bedford 38, Calum O’Shea 45, Bronek Debrowa 48, Steve Newman 52

Sent Off: Tom Warren 16

Attendance: 58
Referee: Mr Adam Bakalarz (Bromley)
Assistants: Mr Paul Greenfield (Eltham, London SE9) & Mr Emmanuel Nketiah (Thamesmead, London SE28)