Cray Valley (Paper Mills) 2-3 Beckenham Town - We're right up there so I will give us as much chance as anyone else up there to get the title, says Beckenham Town assistant manager Phil Wilson

Cray Valley (Paper Mills) 2 – 3 Beckenham Town
Location	Badgers Sports Ground, Middle Park Avenue, Eltham, London SE9 5HT
Kickoff	14/02/2023 19:45

CRAY VALLEY (PAPER MILLS) 2-3  BECKENHAM TOWN
Isthmian League South East Division
Tuesday 14 February 2023
Stephen McCartney reports from Middle Park Avenue

BECKENHAM TOWN assistant manager Phil Wilson insists his players’ have got the bit between their teeth and have a chance of winning the Isthmian League South East Division title at the first attempt.

Cray Valley (Paper Mills) slipped out of the play-off zone despite dominating large chunks of this local derby – but three costly mistakes ensured the Millers’ winless run was extended to five games.

With both sides lining up with 3-5-2 formations, Cray Valley came out with all guns blazing and deserved their early lead through striker Ade Adeyemo’s eighth goal of the season.

However, a goalkeeping blunder from Chris Lewington from a corner gifted Beckenham Town centre-half Danny Waldren the simplest of chance to stab in his sixth goal of the season.

Cray Valley regained the lead through striker Hassan Ibrahiym’s ninth goal of the season, slotting in a penalty before Beckenham Town’s right-back Harvey Brand headed in his sixth goal of the season to restore parity just before half-time, following another set-piece.

Beckenham Town snatched victory inside the final three minutes, courtesy of talisman striker Louie Theophanous pouncing on some more woeful defending to notch his 22^nd goal of the season to bring their three-match winless streak to an end.

“It was being very patient off the ball again tonight.  We knew they would have a lot of the ball here, they break very quickly.  We had a game plan that was very difficult to execute at times, which is credit to the way that they played but that attitude that our team have, they don’t roll over at any point,” said Wilson.

“We just kept going and we knew they would give us chances.  They didn’t defend set-pieces very well and any team that wants to play-out-from-the-back there’s always a risk of them getting caught and that is how we got the winning goal.

“The three without a win doesn’t really reflect on how the game’s have gone.  We just weren’t clinical enough in front of goal (during our goal-less home draw against Haywards Heath Town on Saturday), having all of the possession so it was quite nice to be the other way around today and take our chances.”

Cray Valley (Paper Mills) manager Tommy Osborne experienced his fourth defeat in 13 games since taking over the helm after Kevin Watson departed to manage Isthmian League Premier Division strugglers Herne Bay.

“It’s very much frustrating on our part because our second half performance, I felt deserved a little bit more if I’m really honest,” said Osborne.

“I thought the first half there weren’t a lot in it. I thought it was a little bit of a basketball game, no one really had control of it. I thought we had spells, I thought Beckenham had spells and the scoreline probably tells a tale being two-each at half-time.

“I thought in the second half we put our foot on the ball.  I thought going forward we looked dangerous and we played at a good tempo and that’s why I’m frustrated.  I felt our second half performance, we deserved a lot more.

“My biggest disappointed of tonight is the three goals we conceded is bitterly disappointing for us.  I understand you can pick holes in any goal you concede but those three goals we conceded tonight were really avoidable and we should do better on all three goals.”

Cray Valley set the tone and started the game on the front foot, creating their first opening after 241 seconds.

Right-wing-back Denzel Gayle played the ball inside to Adeyemo, who took a touch before drilling a low left-footed drive flashing just past the right-hand post from a central position some 25-yards from goal.

The game was played at a very high tempo and the home side produced some slick patterns of play throughout the entire game and another chance came their way shortly afterwards.

Left-wing-back Vinnie Medhurst linked up well with the impressive Daniel Bennett down the left before Medhurst cut in towards the corner of the penalty area and his right-footed angled drive was parried by goalkeeper Damian Niemczycki at his near-post and Bennett was called offside by the time he tapped the ball inside the bottom near corner.

Osborne said: “I was pleased with the start in the first half.  I thought we started very well, but then I thought Beckenham had spells where they were very direct against us but to be fair to them, we found it hard to deal with.”

Wilson added: “They started very sharp.  We didn’t want to press as much but the way they played, it sucked us into pressing at times and then they’re very good at opening the pitch up and hitting teams quickly on the break, so it was an early warning.”

Medhurst was a very late replacement for Barney Williams, while Beckenham Town lost attacking midfielder Jamarie Brissett to a knee injury after 19 minutes and his replacement, Alfie Bloomfield was not a threat.

Osborne said: “Barney turned his ankle in the warm-up, which is a blow for us because he’s an experienced player and his consistency this season has been second to none.

“Barney was not able to play, he literally done it five minutes before the warm-up finished.

“Young Vinnie came in and done really well because it’s not easy just to get thrown into a game little that.  Even if Vinnie knew he was playing, he’s got to get his head around it and play so to find our five minutes before kick-off was not easy for him and (left-wing-back) is not his position, he’s not left-footed.  He’s a good asset to us because he’s very versatile but left-back is not one of the positions that he would like to play.

“But he’s come in and he’s not moaned and he’s got on with it and he didn’t do too much wrong.  He’s a young lad and he’s come in, in very, very difficult circumstances.”

When asked about Brisett’s fitness, Wilson added: “We’ll assess (the injury) on Thursday at training. He’s got his instructions from (our medical team) on what he needs to do between now and then. He’s had ice on it all through the game so hopefully if that settles down he’ll be available for Saturday but we’ll asses Thursday and see how he’s doing.”

Cray Valley deserved their lead when it arrived with just 10 minutes and 36 seconds on the clock.

No one in a Beckenham shirt pressed Bennett as he drove with the ball at his feet straight down the middle of the pitch before feeding Adeyemo, whose left-footed drive was parried by the goalkeeper, low to his right, before Adeyemo tucked home the rebound inside the bottom left-hand corner from six-yards.

“I thought Ade Adeyemo was very good tonight. He’s been very good for the last few games and when he plays well, he’s got such natural ability, he catches the eye,” said Osborne.

“I actually enjoyed watching him play tonight. He played centre-forward for us, he can play a lot deeper.  I thought there were times when Ade stood out tonight.”

Wilson added: “That’s the time Damian actually parried it into a good area and it's gone in at a tight angle.  I couldn’t really see from where I was how it’s gone in and whose it gone through but they started well. The goal was coming really.  It took us that goal for us to kind of settle.  I think we were a bit more disciplined after the goal, so it’s probably a wake-up call that we needed.”

Beckenham Town were to be denied an equaliser with 13:17 on the clock, however.

Left-wing-back Archie Johnson fed Jamarie Brissett down the left and he whipped in a deep cross towards the far post. The ball was knocked down by midfielder Joe Healy and holding midfielder Nick Curran hit a half-volley towards goal, which was beaten away by Chris Lewington.

“It was a good save. I think if Nick hits it anywhere else in the goal he’s not going to save it. It was quite close to him but you give their keeper credit there to make a reaction save,” said Wilson.

Osborne added: “We spoke about that at half-time.  We didn’t defend that direct ball as well as we could.  We didn’t defend the knock downs and that was an opportunity for Beckenham that Chris has saved.”

However, Lewington was guilty of making a goalkeeping blunder to gift Beckenham Town an equaliser with 21:21 on the clock, following their first of three corners.

George Goodwin whipped a corner in from the left which would normally have been cleared by the first man at the near-post.  However, Lewington was not under any pressure when he dropped the ball and Waldren gleefully stabbed the ball over the line from close range.

“You probably want the delivery a bit higher. It came in quick and it was whipped so you know if you put a ball at that pace with that kind of whip on it into that area it’s always going to be difficult to deal with,” said Wilson.

“The keeper should’ve done better with it but it was at that awkward height of whether to punch or catch and thankfully he opted to catch and didn’t. 

“The where Waldren gets most of his goals at the moment, he’s lively in the six-yard box and he’s probably our biggest threat on set-pieces.”

Osborne said: “Beckenham’s first two goals really were us not defending balls into our box and that certainly in the first half was what we needed to improve on and do a lot better.

“We wasn’t good enough (dealing with) balls into our box in the first half tonight, be it corners or free-kicks from deep and we did talk about it at half-time.

“I think in the second half we had a lot of possession and Beckenham found it harder to put balls in the box. We had a lot of the football but certainly in the first half that was something that we needed to deal with better and we didn’t and I think it cost us two goals.

“Chris has been really good for us in recent weeks, really good, so he’s an experienced goalkeeper and it didn’t let him effect his performance in the second half.”

Beckenham Town then went close to grabbing the lead when Johnson’s left-footed free-kick was cleared out to Waldren, who recycled the ball back into the box with a first time ball and Theophanous steered his header just past the right-hand post.

The Millers were the better of the two sides and they went close to taking a deserved lead with 32:30 on the clock.

Waldren picked up a yellow card for halting Ibrahiym’s driving run and Bennett went close with a whipped left-footed free-kick which whistled just past the near post from 30-yards.

Osborne said: “I thought he fooled everyone, the goalkeeper, the players, us on the dug-out.  That was extremely unlucky. A real bit of quality from Dan.

“He played really well tonight. We had to take him off because we wanted to get fresh legs on because the tempo of the game was quick all night.” 

Former Dulwich Hamlet and Merstham goalkeeper Wilson had faced plenty of Bennett set-pieces in the past.

“I played with Benno at Merstham. I know exactly the threat he is. He’s probably one of the, if not, the best players in the league.  He was very unlucky and we were very lucky.”

Cray Valley deservedly took the lead for the second time, timed at 36 minutes and 46 seconds on the clock.

Julian Anau drove through the heart of the pitch before releasing Adeyemo in behind Waldren and Polish goalkeeper Niemczycki came rushing out and claimed to have got to the ball first before sending Adeyemo crashing to the deck.

Referee Fabio Roque pointed to the spot, booked the Braintree loanee and Ibrahiym clinically sent the keeper the wrong way to find the bottom right-hand corner with his right-boot.

Osborne said: “Has took a penalty for us on Saturday and was very calm when he took it (2-2 draw at Three Bridges) and he’s done that again tonight.

“We missed Has for three games very recently. He had to go away for a period of time and we did miss him and it’s good to have him back because it definitely gives us a different dimension in midfield, higher up the pitch.” 

Wilson claimed: “I thought it was another poor decision from the referee. I think you can clearly see that Damian’s had a touch on the ball before the forward’s got there. The ball’s definitely changed direction.  We could see it quite clearly from where we were.  I think the referee is a little bit too quick to blow the whistle on that one.”

Beckenham Town grabbed their second equaliser on this chilly Tuesday night with 42 minutes and 10 seconds on the clock.

Curran drew a foul from Anau just beside the centre-circle inside the Millers’ half and Johnson delivered a high hanging free-kick with his left-foot towards a crowd of players.

Cem Tumkaya and Adeyemo rose together among three Beckenham players and the ball bounced off Tumkaya’s head and dropped on the edge of the six-yard box for Brand to glance his header inside the bottom left-hand corner.

“I didn’t think it was a great delivery from Archie. It was very high but it made a 50-50 and Harvey’s lively and again another threat,” added Wilson.

Osborne added: “It’s us not defending our box well enough. That was an issue for us in the first half.  I think if we defended our box better, I don’t think we concede the two goals, it’s as simple as that.”

Both were asked their thoughts going into the interval.

Osborne said: “One was to defend our box better.  I felt we had to do that and we did feel the lads that we’ve got higher up the pitch, they’re quite athletic and quick and they have got a good change of pace going down the hill and we could use that ability that they’ve got a little bit more than we did in the first half.

“I thought we did that. I thought the front four was a threat for Beckenham in the second half and as disappointed I am if we concede three goals like we did tonight there is an argument to say you don’t deserve to win a game of football but I was actually pleased with our second half performance.”

Wilson added: “We said discipline and patience really. Not to get frustrated off the ball. They were going to get lots of the ball tonight. It was important especially when we got tired, credit to them, they’re sharp, probably got us on pace in lots of areas of the pitch and I think we just needed to be disciplined with our shape a little bit more, sit in tight and let them make mistakes with the ball.”

Beckenham Town created a half-chance inside the opening nine minutes of the second half when Goodwin’s right-footed free-kick was floated in from the left and Curran ghosted in at the far post but couldn’t apply the finish from a tight angle.

The Millers’ often drove through the heart of Beckenham’s midfield and another run from Bennett saw him play the ball on his inside to Gayle, who shifted the ball past his man before stroking a left-footed angled drive which was saved by Niemczycki at his near post.

“Denzel’s gone through, he maybe able to lift that one rather than side-foot it with pace, maybe lift it over the keeper but in hindsight it’s easier said than done when it’s in real time, you have to make a decision and Denzel decided to do it with pace,” said Osborne.

Wilson said: “When Damian’s in those situations, you back him to make good saves and the saves he needs to make as well.  He’s been a bit busier in recent games and he is switched on.  He’s helped us out a couple of times today but I think for all the possession they had, they haven’t really carved us open at any point.  I thought we defended resolutely throughout the game.”

When asked about Nick Blue’s progress since his operation that has kept the number one out of the last seven outings, Wilson revealed: “He’s not trained yet so we’re still waiting to see how he gets on but he’s hopefully going to get back to fitness in the next couple of weeks so we’ll see where we go from there.” 

Kicking down the slope during the second half, Cray Valley were to be denied the winning goal in the 62^nd minute.

Ibrahiym fed Adeyemo, who turned Waldren just outside the penalty area and his shot on the turn was destined for the bottom right-hand corner, only for Niemczycki to dive to his left and use a strong left hand to keep Beckenham Town in the game.

“I think at two-all in the second half, when I felt we was on top of the game, we were having a real good spell in the game and I think we needed to score then,” admitted Osborne.

Cray Valley kept on the front foot and it was going to be a case of two points dropped as they should have claimed the victory to get their promotion bid back on track.

Kiki Oshilaja (who plays on the right of the home side’s three central defenders) was in oceans of space down the right flank and his cross-come-shot trickled across the keeper and flashed behind for a goal-kick.

Beckenham Town caught Cray Valley on the counter-attack inside the final six minutes when Curran switched the ball over to Theophanous, who held the ball up inside the left-channel and waited for Johnson, whose ball in deflected past the top of the near post.

Bring back the good old days when the goalkeeper would bounce the ball two or three times before launching a big kick upfield from the edge of his penalty area before jumping over his 18-yard line.

Nowadays, non-league sides pretend to play like Manchester City and play out from the back, when hitting the channel would have been the best option here.

Tumkaya played the ball to fellow centre-half Mitchell Nelson, who had his pocket picked by a pressing Theophanous inside the penalty area and the striker clinically drilled a low angled right-footed drive across the keeper to find the bottom far corner to snatch victory from the jaws of a draw.

“We know you can give teams a little bit time on the ball but not too much to get out,” said Wilson.

“I think in that instance Mitch probably was on the ball a little bit too long and yes Louie saw an opportunity for him to chase it and when Louie’s got the ball in the area there you back him nine times out of 10 to do what he did and that’s the beauty of Louie, you know if he’s got a sniff at goal, he’s going to take that chance.”

Wilson admitted Beckenham have been relying on Theophanous’ goals this season, as their next leading scorer in tonight’s starting 11 has seven goals (Brissett).

“Louie’s been huge for us. We needed more players to chip in around him at times.  Saturday against Haywards Heath was a prime example of that of trying to get some more players involved on the scoresheet, particularly the attacking players that we’ve got and have got to help him out a little bit.”

Osborne said: “At the time I felt we were on the front foot.  We’ve got to do better there. I think we had two or three opportunities to pass the ball forward. We kept going square and we’ve got caught out. 

“You’ve got to look at yourself there. You can’t paper over the cracks. We feel that we’ve shot ourselves in the foot tonight because the goals we’ve conceded were too soft.

“I don’t want to knock people when they’re down but the third goal is so avoidable. The ball went to Mitch and Mitch has got to do so much better than he done there. It’s bitterly disappointing.”

Ramsgate occupy the sole promotion spot with 53 points from 26 (of 38) games, while Beckenham Town are now in second-place just a point behind, having played a game more.

Chatham Town are third (49 points from 25 games and are at home to Sheppey United on Wednesday night), while Whitehawk are in fourth-place with 43 points from 25 games, while Sheppey United are in fifth with 41 points from 25 games.

Cray Valley have slipped to sixth-place (40 points from 25 games), while Ashford United follow with 40 points from 26 games.

Tommy Warrilow brings his Ashford United side to Eden Park Avenue on Saturday (14:00) and Wilson admitted for the first time that his side are going for the title, having claimed the Combined Counties League Premier Division South title at the first attempt last season.

“They’ve got their bit between their teeth again.  I think we knew today’s game opens up a little bit of a gap between the top three and the rest of the teams fighting around the play-offs,” said Wilson.

“We can’t take it for granted. We’ve had a little run where we haven’t got enough points on the board so these games are crucial this season against the big teams.  We’ve delivered most of the time.  Four points off Cray Valley is a huge number to get when you look at the games.  We got very lucky in the 0-0 draw and we tactically got it wrong at home against them.

“They’re all big games now.  Ashford have been a little bit indifferent of late but you know they’re a threat and you can’t write off any team that Tommy’s in charge of and we’re going to have got to be on top of our game again on Saturday.

“Chatham have got a couple of games in hand on us.  It’s really opening up the gap between us and the teams around sixth or seventh.  We’re managing to get a little gap from fourth as well, so we’ve just got to try to keep pull away from those teams and we’ll have a little fight for top hopefully with Chatham and Ramsgate.”

Beckenham Town for the title?  It would be amazing given this is the club’s first season in the ninth tier of English football and have the smallest budget of their six other promotion rivals.

“Who knows, who knows,” replied Wilson.

“Listen, we’re there or there abouts now.  I said to you before if we’re in the mix for the play-offs, that will be great.  Now I think the position we’re in, I mean, we’re right up there so I will give us as much chance as anyone else up there to get the title.

“We’re well in the mix. It’s in our hands now in that title race.  We’ve played Chatham and Ramsgate recently.  We didn’t do ourselves justice down at Chatham but certainly did when they came to us and we’ve got Ramsgate towards the end of the season so that could prove to be a big game in the run-in (8 April).”

Wilson is looking forward to yet another big game at Eden Park Avenue against heavyweights Ashford United.

“I’m expecting us to turn up for a very good game.  No doubt Ashford will be up for the game. They need the three points. We need the three points, so I think it will be a good game.”

Osborne, meanwhile, takes his side to bottom-of-the-table Faversham Town on Saturday.

“We’ve got to improve our form. It’s funny because performances in this bad run of form have been good and it’s a bit strange in saying that but you can’t keep saying that.  At some point, you’ve got to start putting points on the board, quite quickly.

“I went to watch Faversham against Beckenham, they’ve got players that have been very good players at this level and they’ve got players that have been very good at Step Three, so you can go there and it can be the toughest game you’ve played all season.”

When asked about grabbing a play-off place come the end of the season, Osborne replied: “I think you’ve got any of those seven sides probably think that they can get into the play-offs and get promoted and we’re one of them, although we’re on a very difficult run of results.

“We still believe that we can get into that top five but there’s probably seven other managers who have said what I’ve just said.  I think it’s going to go down to the wire. It will be very tight.  It wouldn’t surprise me if it was the last game of the season with everyone dependant on everyone’s results to see if they get in there or not.”

Cray Valley (Paper Mills): Chris Lewington, Denzel Gayle, Vinnie Medhurst, Cem Tumkaya, Kiki Oshilaja, Mitchell Nelson, Julian Anau, Sonny Black, Hassan Ibrahiym, Ade Adeyemo, Daniel Bennett (Adam Coombes 83).
Subs: Barney Williams, Ayo Majekodunmi, Jacob Bennett, Kershaney Samuels

Goals: Ade Adeyemo 11, Hassan Ibrahiym 37 (penalty)

Booked: Mitchell Nelson 54

Beckenham Town: Damian Niemczycki, Harvey Brand, Archie Johnson, Danny Waldren, Mudiaga Wanogho, Robert Carter, Joe Healy, Nick Curran, Louie Theophanous, Jamarie Brissett (Alfie Bloomfield 19), George Goodwin (Freddie Nyhus 77).
Subs: Henry Griffin, Stefan Cox, Freddie Cray

Goals: Danny Waldren 22, Harvey Brand 43, Louie Theophanous 87

Booked: Danny Waldren 32, Damian Niemczycki 36, Nick Curran 45, Mudiaga Wanogho 90

Attendance: 144
Referee: Mr Fabio Roque
Assistants: Mr Jordan Dixon-Walker & Mr Alphie Ibrahim