Bromley 4-2 Faversham Town - League has been an eye opener, admits Faversham Town boss Kevin Doyle

BROMLEY  4-2 FAVERSHAM TOWN
Ryman Youth League East
Tuesday 10 April 2012
Stephen McCartney reports from Hayes Lane

FAVERSHAM TOWN manager Kevin Doyle promises his side will come back stronger after finishing at the foot of the Ryman Youth League table.

The Lilywhites had to avoid defeat in their last game to finish above Bromley in the all-Kent eight-team division, but they suffered a disappointing 4-2 defeat in an entertaining game at Hayes Lane, as Bromley recorded their first home victory of the season.

Kick-Off was delayed by fifteen minutes, as one of the assistants, Liam Vitoria failed to turn up so match referee Mr Daren Rudd made an emergency phone call to Steve Martin, who rushed home from work to pick up his kit to run the line.

Faversham Town opened the scoring, against the run of play at the time, thanks to a quality hooked volley from winger Steve Sparks, but Bromley equalised just before the interval with a quality goal of their own, Kristian Campbell’s over-head kick, which gave the home side the impetus for the second half.

Bromley stepped up a gear during the second half and striker Orlando Richards scored with his left foot and then his right foot in a devastating six minute spell, before Faversham pulled a goal back when skipper Ayorunde Omoyayi converted from the spot, before Bromley substitute Tom Smith wrapped up a deserved victory, which sees them finish in above Faversham in the table.

Doyle said: “Well, the first half I thought we played extremely well.  We could’ve gone in, hopefully at 2-0.  We conceded a set-piece and we go in 1-1 and go and concede again so early on in the second half and we’re chasing the game.

“We’ve changed our formation, probably four times tonight to try and get ourselves back in the game.

“Bromley just about deserved to win.  There were a few defensive mistakes, but I can’t fault my boys for commitment tonight.  I thought they were excellent, the commitment they showed tonight.”

Bromley manager Paul Proctor, meanwhile, said he felt relieved that his side scraped themselves off the foot of the table with only their third league win of the season, their first at Hayes Lane.

“Relief really,” said Proctor, after completing the double over Faversham Town.

“I’m pleased for the boys because they’ve performed quite well in the Ryman over the season.  They haven’t got their just rewards. 

“Since Christmas we’ve put a bit of a run together.  Yes, it was pleasing to get a result today.”

Bromley created the first opening, inside the opening seven minutes, when central midfielder Jonathan Akinwade played the ball into Richards’ feet, who flicked the ball onto the onrushing Matt Barber, who scuffed a low right-footed shot agonisingly wide of the foot of the far post.

Faversham immediately responded to that scare as a lay-off from James Amey Drew found his strike partner Christian Papadimos, who turned and cracked a curling right-footed shot from 25-yards, which was plucked out of the air by Bromley keeper Tom Kitchener, high to his right.

Bromley immediately broke away and they should have opened the scoring just 28 seconds later. 

Nathaniel Edwards, who is built like a winger, but plays in the heart of midfield, played the ball through the middle to Richards, who laid the ball off to Barber, who was left unmarked by Faversham left-back Bradley Weston, but a stretching Barber steered a difficult shot wide of the near post.

Faversham keeper Joe Ainsley then made a fine save to thwart Bromley.

Barber, who played as a striker or wide on the right flank, cut the ball across to Akinwade, who cut inside and unleashed a low left-footed drive, which was heading towards the far corner, but Ainsley was forced into making a low diving save to his right to parry the ball, but the keeper recovered well to gather the loose ball before Richards could pounce.

Doyle says Ainsley will be pushing Rob French for a place in the first team.

He said: “Joe has been good all year. He’s a good talker. He organises his defence and if they don’t do what he wants them to do then he lets them know.

“Joe’s been covering for our first team on the bench many games this season. Obviously there’s people at the club that see the good in him.

“Rob French is going to take a lot of moving but Joe is going to work hard. He’s only just turned eighteen.  He’ll be pushing on and then if he keeps working away two or three years’ time (he’ll be pushing for a first team place).”

But Doyle added: “Rob French is a good keeper. Will the club be able to keep him if he keeps performing the way he does?

“There’s rumours that teams have been watching him so perhaps there will be a chance for Joe to get a run out with the first team.”

Proctor, meanwhile, admitted missing decent chances has been his sides Achilles heel this season.

He said: “That’s the story of our season!  We’re not clinical in front of goal when we should be. 

“But their first years’ so they’ve learnt a lot this year.  I only had two second years’ out there tonight (Bailey and Campbell) so it all bodes well for next season.”

But it was Faversham who drew first blood in this basement battle, by scoring against the run of play, in the 14^th minute.

Joe Cragg played the ball over from the right and a poor headed clearance away by Bromley central defender Campbell dropped down and Sparks hooked a right-footed volley from 22-yards which looped over Kitchener’s left shoulder and crashed into the top far corner.

Doyle said: “In all fairness, Steven hasn’t played a lot of Ryman’s football this year. This is only his second game.  He’s been signed on all year. He hasn’t been getting on.

“He’s started the last two games. At times he shows great quality.  Some of his defensive ability, he needs to work a bit harder on.”

Proctor added: “We didn’t defend it as well as we should’ve done, but fair play to the fella, it was a clinical finish, a very good goal!”

That quality finish appeared to knock the stuffing out of Bromley, who had started the game well, and Faversham almost doubled their advantage in the 18^th minute when Papadimos cracked a right-footed curling drive, which Kitchener caught high to his left, after Campbell’s poor clearance out of defence.

Despite a frenetic opener, the game petered out, but both manager’s half-time team talks had to change when Bromley equalised just before the break.

Ted Bailey swung in a corner with his left foot from the left and a towering header from a yellow shirted defender appeared to had averted the danger for Faversham, but Edward Boateng picked up the loose ball and played the ball back into the penalty area and central defender Campbell sent an acrobatic overhead kick bouncing into the bottom near corner from six-yards.

Doyle was bitterly disappointed with the Bromley equaliser.

He said: “I think what we’ve done – I said to my assistant – all the hard work we’ve just done was just basically gone! 

“We told these boys to do much the same in the second half.  Now we’ve got to tell them we’re moaning about a mistake from a set-piece!”

Proctor added: “I thought we deserved to be in it!  I thought we dominated the play. We kept possession well.  We switched it well and we deserved the goal really.  We deserved to go in at 1-1.”

The Bromley managed admitted that goal had changed his half-time team talk “just a little bit.”

He added: “It just takes the pressure off a little bit.  You don’t have to force it so much.  You can be patient and play.  We needed to keep the momentum, press them high and play at a high tempo, which we did and we got a second early goal.”

Faversham, however, couldn’t cope with Bromley’s whirlwind start to the second half, as they found themselves 3-1 down after 54 minutes.

Bromley issued Faversham an early warning when Barber went close with a left-footed half-volley after Liam Connor whipped in a cross from the left.

But they took the lead in the 48^th minute when Edwards and Barber combined down the right and played the ball across the face of goal and Richards smashed a fierce left-footed drive, which smacked against the underside of the crossbar before bouncing down over the line.

Bromley raced into a comfortable lead when Barber was left in plenty of space down the right flank and he whipped in a low precise cross and Richards swept home a clinical first time shot, across visiting keeper Joe Ainsley and the ball nestled inside the bottom far corner.

Proctor was full of praise for the injury-hit striker.

He said: “We did say he was on for a perfect hat-trick!  This was only his second full game back this season. He’s broke his foot and done it again coming back, so we’ve missed him.  If we had him all season, it would’ve been a different story.”

Faversham were now facing an uphill struggle and they failed to find their way back into the game.

Doyle said: “That just deflated us.  We now had to change the way we played.  We’ve come here to play 4-4-2.  We turned it around a bit and we decided to go 4-3-3 to try to stretch the back four a bit.

“If we put pressure on the back four, there were mistakes there. We just never delivered that ball, the way we wanted to play. We put two men out wide, told them to cheat a bit but we never delivered that ball over the top for the wide men.  That’s what we planned to do.”

Ainsley made a comfortable save from Bailey, who chanced his arm with a left-footed drive on the turn from 30-yards and Campbell planted a header wide, when left unmarked following Bailey’s corner towards the near post.

But Faversham found a way back into the game, albeit briefly, when referee Mr Daren Rudd – who took the honour of refereeing the first ever Kent Invicta League Challenge Trophy Final on Good Friday – pointed to the spot.

Amey Drew over-hit a free-kick from the right and Dave Walsh did well to retrieve the ball and the defender cut inside both Danny Chapman and Boateng, who seemed to leave the ball for one another, before Chapman impeded Walsh inside the box.

Skipper Omoyayi led by example and steered his driven right-footed penalty to the diving keeper’s right to bring Faversham back into the game with fourteen minutes remaining.

Both managers were asked their thoughts on the decision.

Proctor said: “Disappointing!  Again, a bit of inexperience with a first year.  He (Chapman) wasn’t strong enough. He should’ve been a bit more savvy there but these things happen.  He had a very good game apart from that. I thought he was very solid.  He distributed the ball extremely well.”

Predictably the Faversham Town boss felt it was a penalty.

He said: “I thought it was a penalty. I thought that was a stonewall penalty. 

“In all fairness to him (Omoyayi), that was the first penalty he took and I thought he took it terrifically!”

But any thoughts of a comeback died as Bromley scored their fourth goal of the game just four minutes later.

A long ball out of defence released Richards down the right and his low centre saw Ainsley parry Akinwade’s initial effort, but substitute Tom Smith rolled a right-footed shot into the empty net.

Proctor said: “Smithy is a first year and he’s been with me since under 7’s I think.  He’s got a great engine, a great attitude and he got in there and got a goal, which we asked him to do.  He was unlucky with the disallowed goal. He wasn’t offside, but unfortunately Orlando went towards the ball.”

Doyle added: “We threw caution to the wind.  As you can see we went three at the back, played three in midfield and we went four up top.

“In all fairness we were chasing the game. It’s not pretty to watch. It’s not how we tell our boys to play football but we had to start playing long ball, try and get the ball beyond the defence and use our pace with the players we’ve got to try and get back into the game.”

Smith went close when his hooked volley was beaten away by Ainsley, after Richards delivered a cross from the right.

Faversham almost pulled a third goal back inside injury time when substitute James Lambert played the ball inside to Papadimos, but he fluffed his lines when trying to beat the Bromley keeper with a speculative chip, which was easily caught by Kitchener at his near post.

Bromley finish their campaign on 10 points, one point higher than Faversham.

Manager Proctor explained why it was important to win tonight.

“A bit of pride really. We haven’t won at home.  Even last week, when we played Welling, we played reasonably well and came away with another game where we’ve lost by the odd goal.  There’s been too many of them now.  A lack of experience, a lack of confidence where we haven’t been putting results together.

“Today we’ve put it right.  There’s no tomorrow, there’s no next game.  We’ve got to go out and do everything right tonight.  I was really pleased with the response from the lads, our first home win in the league.”

Reflecting on their campaign, Doyle admitted inexperience proved to be their downfall, in a division that was won by Kent League club Corinthian, who finished nine points clear of Maidstone United and Tonbridge Angels.

He said:  “It’s our first year here in the Ryman League. It’s been an eye opener for myself, for all of our team, our assistant. The pace of the game has caught a few of the boys’ out.

“Some of them have probably come in a year too early but we’ll learn from it, but we’ll come back next year a stronger team and I’m sure we’ll improve on that next year.

“Out there tonight we had four second years’ (Ainsley, Omoyayi, Papadimos and Walsh) leaving us at the end of this year.  The rest of them are all first years’ so they’ve got another year in them. With that in mind they’ll come back stronger, different mind-set and hopefully we can push on from there.”

Bromley: Tom Kitchener, Danny Chapman, Liam Connor, Ted Bailey (Charlie Proctor 80), Tom Rose, Kristian Campbell, Nathaniel Edwards, Jonathan Akinwade, Orlando Richards, Matt Barber (Tom Smith 71), Edward Boateng.
Subs: Daniel Carpenter, Chris Clarke

Goals: Kristian Campbell 45, Orlando Richards 48, 54, Tom Smith 80

Booked: Orlando Richards 37

Faversham Town: Joe Ainsley, Jacob Bindon, Bradley Weston (Zach Stebbeds 89), Dave Walsh, Kari Creed, Ali Wren (Justin Howard 72), Joe Cragg (James Lambert 61), Ayorunde Omoyayi, James Amey Drew, Christian Papadimos, Steven Sparks.

Goals: Steven Sparks 14, Ayorunde Omoyayi 76 (pen)

Attendance: 62
Referee: Mr Daren Rudd (Dartford)
Assistants: Mr Steve Martin (Orpington) & Mr Ray Perry (Sevenoaks)