Corinthian 2-0 Erith & Belvedere - We won't last long in the Ryman if we play like that, says Ford

CORINTHIAN  2-0  ERITH & BELVEDERE
Southern Counties East Football League Challenge Shield
Saturday 3^rd August 2013
Stephen McCartney reports from Gay Dawn Farm

ERITH & BELVEDERE co-manager Martin Ford says his side will be relegated after one season in the Ryman League if they put in regular poor performances like they did against Corinthian today.

Corinthian ditched their bridesmaids tag after they won their first major honour after losing back-to-back Macron Kent League Cup Finals to VCD Athletic and today’s opponents Erith & Belvedere in the past two years.

Erith & Belvedere kick-off their inaugural Ryman League Division One North campaign when they welcome Redbridge to Park View Road next Saturday, but it was Corinthian who looked like the higher league side with an impressive display to win the annual curtain raiser, the Southern Counties East Football League (formerly Kent League) Challenge Shield.

Corinthian striker Peter Afolayan slotted home a gifted first in the 28^th minute before making way for Jack Pallen, who headed home a second with six minutes of a one-sided game remaining.

“To be totally honest with you, I thought the result was totally the right result,” said Ford afterwards.

“I’ve got no complaints whatsoever.  We knew that Corinthian are a very good side. I expected a lot more from my players’ today. It’s given me food for thought now.

“I thought I had a strong enough squad. I know I had three players’ who couldn’t play through suspensions from last season, which is a crazy rule, but then again we had to abide by it. 

“I’m not making any excuses for anybody. We was totally outplayed today and if we think we can turn up and play like that in the Ryman then we’re not going to be in the Ryman very long!”

Corinthian manager Matt Longhurst was drenched in lager following his side’s dressing room celebrations.

“I thought we controlled the game from start to finish, if I’m being honest,” he said.

“I’ve only had two new players that started the game that haven’t been here last year, nine of the others have all been here last year. We’ve brought in one or two quality players to add to what we had last year.

“I thought we controlled the game from start to finish. I don’t think they were really any threat to us at any point with us probably not being at our best today.  We’ve played better than that during the course of pre-season but it was warm day, the pitch was a little bit too dry so it was difficult to zip the ball about.

“We played well, we had lots of possession but probably didn’t cut them open as much as we have done to other teams in previous games but overall I’m pleased with the lads.”

Corinthian got in behind the Erith & Belvedere defence inside the opening six minutes when a long wind-assisted clearance from keeper Richard Stroud was collected by Afolayan, who cut inside Laurence Collins but visiting keeper Jack Bradshaw dived low to his right to gather.

Corinthian were playing an eye-pleasing passing game on a lush playing surface and Collins played the ball into Lee Woodyard who played in man-of-the-match Denzel Gayle, who was tripped by Jamie Lawrence on the edge of the box.

Corinthian right-back Jaie Nuttall struck his right-footed free-kick from 22-yards into the wall and the ball deflected past the near post.

Erith & Belvedere’s one and only chance arrived in the sixteenth minute.

Corinthian central defender Jack Sparrow’s poor touch gifted the ball to Richard Morgan who strode forward and with only Stroud to beat he dragged his right-footed shot across the keeper and comfortably past the far post from fifteen-yards.

Longhurst said: “I thought we were a little bit slack. I said that to the boys’ at half-time. I’m not going to get over critical of them because they’re good young players but I felt we were a little bit slack at times and that’s allowed them in there once but other than that I don’t think they’ve had a shot so I’m pleased with that.”

Ford admitted: “Yes, I think that’s a fair reflection of the play actually going forward today.

“Mo Conteh played the first half today and he’s clearly struggling with a little bit of a knee injury and he wasn’t as mobile what he normally was today and we struggled to hold the ball up front and it broke down.

“The system that we play we have to make sure people keep the ball, retain it and play a lot better than we did today.

“What disappointed me more than every today was our work-rate. Corinthian didn’t stop working hard for the 90 minutes, passing the ball and we just lost our way at the end.  It just looked like towards the end of the second half we just wasn’t interested in trying to get back into the game.”

Influential Corinthian skipper Ryan Johnson cracked a left-footed drive from 25-yards towards goal, which was saved low down beside the right-hand post by Bradshaw, following a clever corner kick routine.

May played the right-wing corner short to Ben Wilson, who cut the ball back towards the edge of the box which was dummied by Johnson and Afolayan turned his marker before he was tackled and the ball ran loose to Johnson who cracked his shot towards the bottom right-hand corner.

Longhurst added: “I thought we had plenty of possession but I said to the boys’ at half-time, I just felt we had a lot of possession but we were trying to force it. We had too much time and we were picking the wrong choices in the first half.”
 
Ford was clearly impressed with Corinthian and their passing game.

“I’m very impressed by them,” said the former Fisher joint-manager.

“I had good reports on them for today. Matt knows his stuff and when you’ve got the training facilities that they’ve got down here you can work on set-plays and free-kicks. They had two or three corners up their sleeve. We knew about them, we warned the lads about them but when you’ve got the execution like they have, they’ve got young players and they’ll listen. They wouldn’t be out of place in the Ryman League by a long way!”

It’s a shame not many teams play the Corinthian way.

Longhurst said: “We’ll never change! That’s the way I want to play, that’s the way the club wants to play. I just think at this stage of age a lot of our lads can play in small spaces and keep the ball and move it and when they go up the league’s if manager’s want to change the tactics and want to go a little bit longer than they’d be able to do that. We’ve progressed as a team but the whole idea of the club is get these youngsters and hopefully eventually see a few of them push on like we have already from last year.”

But Corinthian deservedly opened the scoring, courtesy of some woeful defending from George Benner, who was playing against a former club.

Woodyard clipped the ball over the top and Benner’s backheader left visiting keeper Bradshaw stranded and the ball ran loose for Afolayan to steer his left-footed shot into an empty net from eight-yards.

“I didn’t think he was great today Peter, he’s been better the last two games for us where he’s been excellent for us, but we started with him today,” said Longhurst.

“I just felt he’s taken his goal well but it’s slotted on a plate for him but he’s taken his chance. He scored two the other night.  Centre forwards are going to take gifts like that. Hopefully we’ll have a few more like them during the season!”

Ford said: “We spoke about it at half-time and Bradshaw clearly shouted for it and George has gone up and got the faintest of touches and it’s completely thrown Bradshaw.

“I just expected a little bit better, a bit more cohesion, but that might come when we play together a little bit longer.

“George Benner has just come back to the club (following an unsuccessful trial with Ryman League Division One South side Whitstable Town). It’s his second game for us today.  We’ve made changes because we’ve had centre halves who have been playing all pre-season but I got a few suspended for the start so we have to give people other chances. George has come in today, he’s done well apart from giving the goal away.”

A mazy run from Afolayan saw him roll a weak shot towards goal, which Bradshaw collected, thankful that his defenders swarmed around the Corinthian striker.

Alfie May, 20, who scored 32 goals to help Corinthian finish in fourth-place in the Kent League last season, created the last chance of the first half when the striker ran towards goal before stroking a right-footed shot past the left-hand post.

Ford made a change at the break and withdrew former Cray Valley striker Mo Conteh and brought on right-back Danny Willis to push James Golding further up the pitch.

But that tactical switch failed to inspire the team in red and white as Corinthian continued to press home their advantage.

Corinthian created a further four chances before the hour-mark.

Left-back Wilson cut the ball back to Johnson, who struck a powerful right-footed drive from 35-yards, which sailed over Bradshaw’s goal after 50 minutes.

Woodyard then cut inside before dragging his left-footed shot past the far post from 30-yards.

Wilson then floated a free-kick into the penalty area and Sam Groombridge came up from the back to loop a free-header over the bar from 12-yards.

But Corinthian ditched their passing game with an excellent chance to double their lead on the hour-mark.

Goalkeeper Stroud launched a big clearance up field, which caught out Willis and Benner and May cracked a stunning, powerful left-footed dipping volley which agonisingly sailed wide of the far post from 30-yards.

Longhurst said: “That was close! Stroudy done well there. We’ve worked on that as well. We don’t just pass it, we can mix it up a little bit as well so there’s room for us to play. He’s gone in behind. Alfie’s been excellent in pre-season. He scored four against Chatham; he’s got a couple of goals the other day; he scored against Faversham and scored against Whitstable and he was unfortunate there and that’s just gone wide of the upright.”

Erith & Belvedere went close to hitting the top floor of the buildings behind Stroud’s goal in the 71^st minute when Willis hit a left-footed speculative drive from 35-yards, which ballooned out of the ground and the ball was retrieved by Corinthian secretary Sue Billings.

Corinthian introduced Pallen and the striker’s left-footed shot on the turn flashed just wide of the far post, past the diving Bradshaw.

Longhurst added: “We freshened things up in the last 20-25 minutes and that’s when I thought the cutting edge showed. Jack Pallen has come on, he’s a great player. If we can get a good year out of him and we can put him back where he should be.”

But Corinthian wrapped up the game with a second goal with eight minutes remaining.

Central midfielder Josh James played the ball out to substitute Sam May down the right hand side and he whipped in an inch-perfect cross with his right-foot and Pallen got across his man to boss the near post to plant his header into the top right-hand corner from six-yards.

“Great ball,” hailed the Corinthian manager.  “Sam’s got lots of experience. He came on with fifteen minutes to go and he’s hit a good delivery and Jack’s got across the near post there. We’ve been speaking to our centre forwards about that all pre-season.

“Jack Pallen has got so much quality. He’s just been messed around a little while bit, he’s been here, there and everywhere at different clubs and hopefully he can settle here. He was here as a kid.  Hopefully he can settle here and get him back to where he should be playing.”

Ford said: “We changed the system quickly, just to go two up front for the end. We was a little bit stretched for the second goal, but still, poor defending. We didn’t stop the cross and a free header inside our six-yard box more or less.

“We got punished today. The best side won today, I’ve got no bones about that. I don’t need to go into the bar now and make excuses. They outplayed us and that’s going to happen. You’ve just got to hold your hands up. Just like I said to the boys out there (after the game), we’ve got a massive game again on Tuesday before the real business starts on Saturday, but we’ve got to pick ourselves up quickly. That’s gone and we have to move on.”

The worst thing you could wish for after such a poor performance is to have to travel to The Skrill South (Conference South) Ebbsfleet United on Tuesday night for their last friendly.

When asked whether he is concerned at this late stage of pre-season, Ford replied: “No, not one bit!  Pre-season has been excellent. I wasn’t expecting to get beat 2-0. I expected a little bit more of the players today. If I’m going to criticise myself as well, I don’t think we got the team shape right today, maybe not the starting eleven right today because we’ve got a big squad, but we just felt today with the players that we’re out there, I expected a little bit more of us because we’ve done well in pre-season and you don’t beat the sides we’ve beat pre-season and then think you’re a bad side in one game today.

“We said to the boys, we’ve missed the chance of doing the treble for the club but we haven’t lost any league points today and it gives us another week.”

Looking forward to their trip to Stonebridge Road to face Ebbsfleet United, Ford admitted it feels like his side are about to jump into the frying pan.

He said: “We’ve got a fantastic game on Tuesday night to go to Ebbsfleet. If we turn up like we did today we’ll get beat by more. We’ll go down there strong, they’ve got to pick themselves up. If they don’t run around and we don’t get in their faces they’re just going to pass it around us and it will be a little bit embarrassing for the football club in front of a lot of people I would gather.  We’ll go down there and play what we can. We’ll give it our best shot and we won’t be disgraced by a long chalk and then we’ll train Thursday and then we’ll look forward to Saturday.”

Ford revealed he is looking to strengthen his squad ahead of their historic Ryman League opener.

“I’m not concerned. The squad is taking the shape as I expected it do to,” said Ford.

“You’ve got to remember we’ve brought in twenty fresh faces. We’ve only got George Benner and Jack Bradshaw left (from last season’s double-winning side) so we’ve had to start again and build again and bring players in.

“I’ll be totally honest with you, we’re still not the finished article. There’s still players I’m still looking to bring into the club, they’re ongoing. I just feel we have to strengthen the squad a little bit more.

“It comes to what we can afford to pay players and we won’t pay players more than we think what they’re worth.”

Longhurst said he was pleased that his side finally brushed off their bridesmaids tag.

“I think it’s the first honour at a senior level for us,” said the proud Longhurst.

“Pre-season is pre-season. I’ll swap today for three points next Saturday against Canterbury and three points against Phoenix, of course, but what it does do it breeds a winning mentality.

“We’ve lost two cup finals in the last two seasons now. Hopefully that will breed confidence that they can go in to these bigger games and bigger occasions. I think you saw in the first 15 minutes we looked a little nervy. Sometimes that’s been our problem when it comes to the cup finals that we haven’t had enough experience and now some of these boys have experienced two cup finals, some of them three.

“At the end of the day it’s a pre-season game but there is a shield there to be won and the boys are in the dressing room and that’s what it feels like to win something and that’s good for these young players in terms of their progression and their education. 

“I’m over the moon for these boys. I’ve said for two years’ their application and their attitude spot on and that’s what they deserve.”

Longhurst added: “If we can get to a cup final again this year all of a sudden we can say we’ve already done it once irrespective whether it is pre-season or at the end of the season. Erith & Belvedere have been sort of a bogey side for us over the last couple of years as well.”

When asked why he felt the game was so comfortable, Longhurst replied “We’ve had them watched so we sort of knew the system they’d be playing. We went through it with the boys on Thursday very briefly.  We’ve had a tough week so we gave the boys a very, very light session and just ran through some bits.

“From what we’ve seen we didn’t feel they’d give us a lot of problems if we did what we’re good at. Had we not, they’ve got players in their side that could hurt us, but I just felt that we’ve been together for a while and I thought that showed today.”

Corinthian: Richard Stroud, Jaie Nuttall, Ben Wilson, Josh James, Jack Sparrow, Sam Groombridge, Lee Woodyard, Ryan Johnson, Alfie May (Jack Mahoney 88), Peter Afolayan (Jack Pallen 67), Denzel Gayle (Sam May 82).
Subs: Jack Jeffrey, Henry Goodwin, Rob Fry, Matt Holder

Goals: Peter Afolayan 28, Jack Pallen 84

Booked:  Alfie May 54

Erith & Belvedere: Jack Bradshaw, James Golding, Laurence Collins, Richard Monan (Ryan Flack 82), Aiden Sherlock, George Benner, Jamie Lawrence, Luke Tanner, Mo Conteh (Danny Willis 46), Richard Morgan, Aaron Jeffrey (Damian Ramsamy 76).
Subs: Ben Healy, Marvin Alonsubo, Taylor Thomas, Leigh Hawkes

Booked:  Jamie Lawrence 90

Attendance: 73
Referee: Mr Simon Finnigan (Maidstone)
Assistants: Mr Chris Dodd (Eltham, London SE9) & Mr Dan Proctor (Dartford)