Corinthian-Casuals 2-3 Whitstable Town - I knew how much it meant to my club, says heroic Denly

Saturday 17th April 2010

CORINTHIAN-CASUALS 2-3 WHITSTABLE TOWN
Ryman League Division One South
Saturday 17th April 2010
Stephen McCartney reports from King Georges Field

WHITSTABLE TOWN maintained their Ryman League status thanks to a bullet header from local hero Sam Denly.

The substitute met a 78th minute corner to head down and into the Corinthian-Casuals net to seal the win they needed to ensure Ryman League football is played at Belmont Road for the fourth year in August.

Whitstable needed three points from their last three games - or rely on Walton Casuals losing to Kent side Sittingbourne - and they got off to a flying start as Ian Pulman converted a penalty after just 64 seconds - before his strike partner Stuart Vahid doubled their lead after 31 minutes.

But fourteenth-placed side Corinthian-Casuals threw on two substitutes at the break and Glenn Boosey netted two inside six minutes to send the nerves jangling in warm and sunny Tolworth.

But Whitstable showed character to recover from that set-back - and with Walton Casuals playing out a 1-1 draw - Denly rose to seal the victory that they needed to maintain their league status.

www.kentishfootball.co.uk spoke to hero Denly immediately after he walked off the pitch - to the chorus of clapping from the jubilant Whitstable supporters in the background.

“Most important goal of my career? It probably was so far!” he said.

“It was a great display today, especially first half, but it was nice to get the winner and most important stay in the division - it’s a great day!”

News that filtered through from the clubhouse before kick-off that Paul Scholes had just won the Manchester derby for United and that had clearly put the home side off their guard as their players were more interested in that game than their own.

And Whitstable got off to a flying start as Vahid was released through on goal and after cutting inside Gavin Cartwright he was pushed by the giant defender and after the ball was smothered by goalkeeper Luke Naughton, referee Mr Chris Phillips pointed to the spot and brandished the lucky culprit with just a yellow card.

Pulman kept his composure and sent Naughton the wrong way with a clinical right-footed penalty to give the Kent side the lead after just 64 seconds.

But gritty Whitstable lost three of their key players to injury during the game as Clint Gooding (hamstring), Pulman (groin) and Vahid (knee) didn’t finish.

Hossick - who replaced Gooding - almost doubled the visitors lead just 30 seconds after coming off the bench, but his right-footed shot from 30-yards sailed over.

As news that Steven Marshall had given Sittingbourne the lead at Walton Casuals filtered through, Gary Sayer was on hand to clear off the line following a corner from the right.

Whitstable eased the nerves further as they doubled their lead after 31 minutes.

Dan Wisker picked the ball up and cut inside his marker before stroking a shot past Naughton, which bounced off the near post - but Vahid was following up and was left unmarked to smash the ball into the net from six-yards.

Boosey issued Whitstable a warning when his penetrating run through a number of red-shirted players resulted in the striker cutting the ball onto his left-foot before his shot sailed just over.

Then, following a swung-in corner from the left from nippy winger Jamal Carr, a combination of Sayer and Kevin Fewell got the ball away at the near post and Boosey hooked the ball back into the danger area and Carlton Murray-Price nodded wide from six-yards.

Corinthian-Casuals threw on Tyron Myton and long-throw specialist Wayne Finnie at the break - and they were level after 61 minutes, through Boosey’s six-minute brace.

Murray-Price threaded the ball through for Boosey to shrug of a shirt pull from Stephen Lloyd and stroked the ball past across Fewell and the ball bounced into the bottom far corner.

The third goal is always crucial, but to concede another, really had the nerves jangling for the remainder of the game.

Full-back Sayer was at fault as the home side played the ball towards the corner flag down the left.

Sayer should have belted the ball out of the ground instead of trying to shepherd the ball out of play for a goal-kick, but the ball bounced up off the lush playing surface and he lost an aerial challenge from Murray-Price.

The giant striker cut along the by-line and rolled the ball across for Boosey to fire a left-footed shot past Fewell to leave Whitstable’s survival hopes hanging by a thread.

“We knew they would come at us second half,”added Denly. “We said at half-time, just keep it tight for five to ten minutes, don’t let them in the game, but unfortunately we let them back in.

“They’re not a bad side. It was hard. We dug deep and we got the result.”

With the travelling Whitstable supporters kicking every ball with their side, Whitstable issued Corinthian-Casuals a warning as Tom Parker met Gareth Cornhill’s corner from the right with a bullet header at the far post, which flew just over the bar.

But Whitstable were on the brink, courtesy of Denly’s winner just twelve minutes from time.

Cornhill floated in another corner from the right towards the far post and Denly leapt to power his header down and through a crowd of players in front of him to spark mass celebrations.

They were then denied by Naughton’s first save of the game when substitute Joe Hitchings released Scott Heard down the left and his fierce drive from just outside of the box was pushed over.

But Corinthian-Casuals threw bodies forward as they went in search of a heart-breaking leveller.

As soon as the board for another three additional minutes went up from the far side - it was to be longest three minutes and 56 seconds of Whitstable’s season.

Forcing two corners, the home side even sent goalkeeper Naughton into the Whitstable penalty area twice, but the Kent side cleared Carr’s second flag-kick from the right and broke away and Cornhill’s long hooked clearance - with the keeper struggling to even make the half-way line - sent sixteen-year-old Heard away but his 30-yard chip sailed agonisingly over an empty goal.

Praying that Walton Casuals didn’t score a dramatic late winner against tired Sittingbourne, it was again heart in mouths time when with the last kick-off the game the home side looped the ball over following a goal-line scramble.

A thankful Denly added: “It was right down to the last kick and I don’t know how it went over.

“We were 3-2 up, we were going to hold on. We knew just how much it meant. It was always going to happen, they threw everything at us for the last 5-10 minutes, so happy days!”

Long-serving goalkeeper coach, Mark Lane, was appointed as the club’s caretaker manager following the club’s 2-0 home defeat to Horsham YMCA on 20th March.

Previous manager, Mark Munday, was in charge of 32 league games and had picked up 8 wins and 2 draws during his time in charge, leaving the club rooted to the Ryman League Division One South table.

Lane’s remit was to keep the club in the Ryman League and in eight games Whitstable have picked up four wins and a draw to pull off the Great Escape.

A smiling Lane emerged from a celebrating away dressing room and told www.kentishfootball.co.uk how immensely pleased he was.

He said: “I think 2-0 up we were cruising to be fair. We’ve had a nice little chat at half-time about how we’re going to keep it tight at the back and just get the ball out.

“We let one in and another one and it’s all hands to the pump.

“I had three people go off early doors. I’ve used all my three subs we’ve got to go 4-5-1 but all credit to them. They’ve dug in again and Denly’s got the header at the end of the game. It’s quite fitting it becomes a lad who lives in Whitstable (who keeps us up).”

Lane praised the team-spirit within the camp that helped them recover from throwing away a two-goal lead.

He said: “I think we probably may well off folded in the past but they’ve got a bit of spirit about them - it’s a bit of pride that they want to show people that they can play.

“The spirit at Ashford (on Thursday) and we’ve gone 1-0 up and we battled; the same at Sittingbourne, we got away with that and the same here.

“It’s the first Saturday we’ve won since 6th March so there you go. We’re good in the midweek, not so much at weekends.”

But the club can once again look forward to lucrative Kent derbies in the Ryman League next season.

“We’ve been down at the bottom most of the season,” reflected Lane. “We’ve been bottom, bottom two. We’re out of the bottom three and this is probably the highest (fourth-from-bottom) we’ve been all season so we’ll take that - you could say Great Escape!

“I think the potential was always there. It’s just a question of us applying it at the right time. They seem to do it against teams who were better and play football.

“The pitch here was lovely and we’ve had a chance to try and play some football.”

Whether the legendary Lane keeps charge of the side for the club’s fourth season at this level remains to be seen - but he must be given the chance to stay at the club if a new management team comes in.

“At the end of the day we’ve got two games left and it’s down to the club then, I think, to take stock on what we want to do,” said Lane.

“I’m sure they’ll have a thought on where they want to go, where we want to proceed in terms of getting applicants for a manager, I would suggest.”

Chairman Joe Brownett was a delighted figure as he spoke to www.kentishfootball.co.uk with a celebratory drink in his left hand.

“Everybody at the club are well delighted as you could imagine,” he said.

“It’s been rather frustrating for the last two months but many thanks to Mark Lane, whose pulled the players together. It shows you there has been the ability within the club and Mark’s got them playing and as you can see today, it’s been a really first-class performance.”

Mr Brownett paid tribute to Denly for pulling something out of the bag when it was needed the most.

“Well Sam’s been very good, he’s 100% and he always gets in the danger area, that’s why he’s always injured unfortunately,” he smiled.

“Sam will score some very important goals and that goal today, the third was so important, although we could have added to that.”

The chairman added that the club’s committee will be sitting down at the end of the season to decide whether Lane will be handed the job permanently or a new manager will guide the club next season.

“We’ve got a very important meting on the 26th, which is the Monday after the season finishes,” he revealed.

“The committee will sit down then. If Mark wants to be considered for the job then obviously we’ll listen to what he’s got to say, but we’ve got several candidates who have written in and some of them have got very good CV’s but we won’t count nothing out at the moment.”

Whitstable finish their campaign with two home games with Burgess Hill (Tuesday) and Metropolitan Police next Saturday.

“I’ve been associated with the club for over twenty years,” added Mr Brownett. “I would not like to see, under my stewardship, Whitstable relegated.

“I’m rather pleased, as I’m standing here today, to say we won’t get relegated.”

Corinthian-Casuals: Luke Naughton, Youssef Netwali (Tyrone Myton 46), Dale Hennessy, Matt Kidson (Wayne Finnie 46), Gavin Cartwright, Scott Hassell, Jamal Carr, Jason Turley, Carlton Murray-Price, Glen Boosey (Ali Wiltshire 79), Kane Sargeant.

Goals: Glen Boosey 55, 61

Booked: Gavin Cartwright 1

Whitstable Town: Kevin Fewell, Gareth Cornhill, Gary Sayer, Scott Heard, Stephen Lloyd, Stephen Baines, Clint Gooding (Alex Hossick 14), Tom Parker, Stuart Vahid (Joe Hitchings 63), Ian Pulman (Sam Denly 25), Dan Wisker.
Subs: Ben Smith, Mark Lane.

Goals: Ian Pulman 2 (pen), Stuart Vahid 31, Sam Denly 78

Booked: Sam Denly 73

Attendance: 101
Referee: Mr Chris Phillips (Carshalton, Surrey)
Assistants: Mr Dave Sheldrake (West Molesey, Surrey) & Mr Will Davis (Leatherhead, Surrey)