Kentish Football 
Bly Spartans 1-1 Hollands & Blair - It's going to be very tough to win this league, says Matt Hume
Wednesday 07th September 2011
BLY SPARTANS 1-1 HOLLANDS & BLAIR
Kent Invicta League
Wednesday 7th September 2011
Stephen McCartney reports from Rede Court Road
TABLE TOPPING Bly Spartans’ manager Matt Hume says it will be very tough to win the inaugural Kent Invicta League because of the physical strength of member clubs.
The Strood based outfit went into the first ever Medway Kent Invicta League clash with a 100% record after wins over Seven Acre & Sidcup (2-0), Orpington (6-0), Meridian (5-0), Sutton Athletic (1-0) and Phoenix Sports (2-1), but that record went as they were held to a 1-1 draw by last season’s Kent County League champions Hollands & Blair in tonight’s top-of-the-table clash at Rede Court Road.
Gillingham based side Hollands & Blair began their campaign with a 1-0 victory over Ashford United, before they suffered a 4-3 away defeat to Sutton Athletic, but they bounced back with wins over Erith & Dartford Town (3-2), Woodstock Park (1-0) and Orpington (3-0).
Bly Spartans took an early lead, through Ashley Cooper’s second goal of the season, but Darren Blackburn levelled for Hollands & Blair. The home side will be kicking themselves for not winning as Kevin Penfold skied a penalty over the crossbar early in the second half and they created openings to go on to win the game but they had to settle for a point.
Hume, 41, reflected on the Kent Invicta League’s first Medway clash, saying, “Really close fought game as usual. Blair are a decent side, they’re really well structured and they always make it hard for us to break them down so I thought a game I expected to be as tight as it was.”
Hollands & Blair boss, Paul Piggott, 40, added: “I thought it would be exactly what I thought it would be – a tough, competitive game of football.”
The first half was played at a frenetic pace, with no time for players to get the ball down and play as the ball went from one end of the pitch to another, without any quality in the final third.
But it was Bly Spartans who drew first blood, inside the opening eleven minutes, taking advantage of a good spell.
Aaron Burrett’s quickly taken free-kick released striker Matt McHugh down the left (full-back Adrian Bagshaw went to sleep) and he whipped in an inch perfect cross from the by-line which was met by Ashley Cooper at the far post, who powered his header into the roof of the net from one yard out, before being jumped on by jubilant team-mates in the goalmouth.
Hume felt it was a deserved lead for his side, saying, “I think thoroughly deserved as well. I thought the first 15-20 minutes we were on top and we played really well in that spell and we played the way I know we can play.
“When we did score we were looking really confident at the time but as I expected there were going to be spells in the game where we’d be put under pressure and that’s what happened.”
Piggot was not best pleased. He said: “Terrible! You say it was quick, it must’ve been 30 seconds from the foul to when the ball was passed, that’s what disappointed us. The fact we still never shut down the wide man, never stopped the ball getting into the box. Just poor defending all round.”
A stalemate then followed as the ball kept jumping from one end of the pitch to another, but having lost Lee Farrall (who was forced off the pitch due to a stray arm caught him in the face, which broke his front teeth), substitute Curtis Ripley’s pace down the right wing caused Bly all sorts of problems during the final fifteen minutes of the first half, although he did go missing during the second half when Bly Spartans dominated.
Piggott added: “Obviously they got their goal so they obviously sat back a little bit. I think once the dust had settled after the goal I think we got into the game slightly. Then we got to the pace of the game because they started quite quick and I think we struggled to cope with that to start with, but once we did, when you go 1-0 down so early it’s important not to go 2-0 down.”
Bly should have done better when Burrett was presented with another free-kick, but he drilled a right-footed free-kick into the Blair wall and his partner at the back, Ricky Mitchell snatched at a right-footed half-volley, which sailed high and wide.
But Hollands & Blair clawed themselves back into the game in the 31st minute.
Left-back Bryan Greenfield (who was destroyed by Sean Hetterley’s pace down the right flank throughout the game) whipped in an excellent in-swinging corner with his left foot from the right and Bly’s Shane Hings stuck out his right leg at the near post and diverted the ball towards his own goal and Blair’s Blackburn was adjudged to have applied the finishing touch.
Piggott said: “I said to them afterwards I am pleased with a point. They’ve played five and won five and it’s their own ground. I’m more than pleased. We’ve come here and got a point and they’ve missed a penalty so yes, you’ve got to be pleased.”
Hume was disappointed with only their second goal conceded in six games.
He said: “Really disappointed because that was really when we was on top. The corner that they took it was a near post corner and we should be dealing with those balls better. It was leading to that in stages of the game because I think there were throw-ons and that when we weren’t picking up players quickly enough. We were a little bit disorganised on set-pieces and they capitalised on that, which they tend to do and that’s where their danger was, by set-pieces today because they’ve got a lot of height. We always looked a bit vulnerable when they had them.”
Bly should have punished some hesitancy from visiting keeper Lewis Flisher, but Bly striker Scott Beale stabbed his shot wide of the post.
And another chance came Bly’s way when Hings released Beale inside the box, who held the ball up before cutting the ball back to Hings, who flashed a right-footed shot wide from 30-yards.
Blair started to play some slick football towards the end of the first half, and they created a couple of decent chances to take the lead.
Ripley slipped the ball through to Lee Preston, who cut inside from the right and he set up Stuart West, who tried to beat Bly keeper Luke Watkins with a low curler, but the keeper was able to make a comfortable save.
However, Watkins was called into swift action when Greenfield’s low centre was stabbed towards goal by Lee Preston at the near post, the diving keeper tipped the ball around the post.
Bly Spartans were the team likely to score during the second half – Hetterley whipped in a cross which bounced off the top of Flisher’s crossbar – before they were awarded a 48th minute penalty after Penfold was clattered into inside a crowded penalty area after McHugh’s right-wing corner.
Penfold repositioned the ball back onto the spot and some indecision certainly crept into his mind as he skied a right-footed penalty high over the crossbar to the laughter of some of the fans in Bly’s largest crowd of the season.
“Kevin missed the penalty against them last year but last year I thought we deserved more out of the game than we did,” recalled Hume, whose side lost three times to Blair last season.
“When he missed the penalty, it seemed like the same old story again and once that miss happened – and Kevin tends to score every penalty for us - and when he missed that I started to think ‘is the game starting to go against us?’ but fortunately we kept pressing and creating chances and towards the end of the game I think we deserved something out of it.”
The Blair boss gave his take on the incident. “I didn’t see it! I know I’m not (Arsenal’s manager) Arsene Wenger but I didn’t see it. I didn’t know if it was a penalty or not!”
Piggott admitted his side got lucky.
“When I saw it go over the bar I thought we rode our luck a little bit there, but there you go. Sometimes you ride your luck in football and that’s our little bit of luck in the game.”
However, despite that set-back, Bly continued to press Hollands & Blair and McHugh took a touch before he sent a left-footed shot which narrowly missed the target.
Then, McHugh unleashed a speculative left-footed volley over after he met a driven right-wing cross from substitute Anthony Uden.
But Bly squandered an even better chance in the 63rd minute when Hetterley’s right-footed angled drive bounced off the crossbar and was retrieved by McHugh, who floated in a cross from the left and an unmarked Beale (a striker wearing the number six shirt) glanced his header wide of the far post.
Hollands & Blair went close when Stuart West brought down a long ball out of defence and saw Watkins was off his line, but his right-footed chip dropped wide of the left-hand post.
As the game entered the final five minutes, Hetterley should have won it for Bly but his low right-footed shot was turned around the post by the diving Flisher.
And Hollands & Blair almost snatched victory at the death when Cliff Eldridge cut in from the left and his right-footed piledriver was beaten away by a diving Watkins at his near post.
Hume added: “In the morning I’m going to wake up and be pleased because we have got a point. If before the weekend I’d say we beat Phoenix and get a draw Wednesday night I would’ve took that, but obviously right now I’ve come off and I feel all the lads are the same, we should’ve got something more out of the game because I think we asked them a lot more questions than they asked of us.”
Bly Spartans remain top, with 16 points, with Hollands & Blair in second with three fewer points after three weeks of Kent Invicta League football.
Both Medway club’s should be there or three abouts come the end of the season.
Piggott said: “Well, we start every season thinking we’re going to win it and that’s no disrespect to anyone else in the league. We’ve got to think that way that’s because we’re up there because we believe in what we’ve got and we can believe we can do well in this league and it’s just whatever other teams bring to the table that’s going to stop us.”
Considering Bly Spartans finished inside the relegation places of the Kent County League Premier last season, Hume has done a good job in turning around the club’s fortunes.
He said: “It’s fantastic! It’s really fantastic! The reasons we are doing well this year, I believed in pre-season with the new players that we’ve got in, we’re a completely different side so I fully expect us to do a lot better this year, which is really encouraging and we can only get stronger.”
The Kent Invicta League is fast getting a reputation of physical teams and Hume agreed.
“I don’t think this was more competitive than the previous games that we’ve had,” he said.
“I think what was the difference tonight was the time the lads had on the ball was a lot less. They had to work a lot harder to get the ball. The pressure and the competitiveness was in the game today and that’s what we expected and that is what this league is about.
“It is a decent, hard league. To win this league is going to be very, very tough!”
Bly Spartans: Luke Watkins, Martin Difede, Ashley Cooper, Ricky Mitchell (Tony Smith 60), Aaron Burrett, Scott Beale, Craig Beckwith (Anthony Uden 53), Shane Hings (Glenn Barlow 77), Kevin Penfold, Matt McHugh, Sean Hetterley.
Subs: Damien Hodge, Craig Allen.
Goal: Ashley Cooper 11
Hollands & Blair: Lewis Flisher, Adrian Bagshaw, Bryan Greenfield, Sam Cormack, Carl Preston, Tom Michaelson, Cliff Eldridge, Darren Blackburn (Ross Brookes 66), Stuart West (Steve Dampier 88), Lee Preston, Lee Farrall (Curtis Ripley 20).
Goal: Darren Blackburn 31
Booked: Bran Greenfield 20, Curtis Ripley 63
Attendance: 102
Referee: Mr Kelvin Clare (Aylesford)
Assistants: Mr John Quirke (Maidstone) & Mr Ian Sands (Platts Heath)
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