Cray Valley (Paper Mills) 1-2 Hastings United - But the buck stops with me as a manager, so at this moment in time it could be deemed that I’m not doing my job well enough, says Cray Valley boss Kevin Watson

Cray Valley (Paper Mills) 1 – 2 Hastings United
Location	Badgers Sports Ground, Middle Park Avenue, Eltham, London SE9 5HT
Kickoff	12/03/2022 15:00

CRAY VALLEY (PAPER MILLS)  1-2  HASTINGS UNITED
Isthmian League South East Division
Saturday 12 March 2022
Stephen McCartney reports from Middle Park Avenue

CRAY VALLEY (Paper Mills) manager Kevin Watson insists the buck stops with him after his side suffered their fourth defeat on the bounce to a direct Hastings United side that moved a step closer winning the Isthmian League South East Division title.

Gary Elphick’s side are now 10 points clear of nearest challengers Ashford United, after Tommy Warrilow’s side slipped up to a shock 2-0 home defeat to second-from-bottom side Phoenix Sports at Homelands Stadium.

Steve O’Boyle’s side have now won three of their last six games and have closed a gap on Sevenoaks Town to just a point and three points behind East Grinstead Town, having collected 26 points with seven league games remaining.

All three goals here at Badgers were scored with headers.  Cray Valley took a deserved first-half lead through centre-half Cem Tumkaya’s third goal of the season, but Hastings United were more dominant during the second half and went on to win their seventh game on the bounce.

The introduction of Sam Hasler at the interval worked wonders for the league leaders as two of his left-footed set-pieces were headed in by Tumkaya for an own-goal and Jack Dixon notched his seventh goal of the season at the back post.

“I thought we were the better team in the first half. They were the better team second half. When they were the better team they’ve scored two goals and when we were the better team, we scored one goal so they’ve won the game ultimately,” said Watson.

“I thought we started the game well and we maintained it for the first half. We put them under pressure and had lots of possession, moved the ball ok.  We were working on a couple of things tactically. The mindset was very good so going in at half-time we were pleased.”

Cray Valley’s holding midfielder Paul Semakula was making his 100^th appearance for the club in his second spell and has only scored on one occasion.

Watson said: “Look, great lad.  He came to the club, he’s had some successes since he’s been here. He’s extremely consistent, very humble in his approach and it’s good to have him around.”

Hastings United were a hard nut to crack, often putting seven defenders behind the ball to snuff out some early Cray Valley raids down the slope at Middle Park Avenue.

The Millers were the better side during the first-half and created their first opening in the 12^th minute.

Watson explained the reasons behind ditching his three-man defence for four-at-the-back for today’s game.

“We just went a slightly different way today. Whether we’ll stick with it or not, it’s about personnel. It’s about some of the things that we’ve not been going so well, so there was a change slightly to the system today but with the same principles really,” said Watson.

Ade Adeyemo played the ball out to right-back Connor Dymond, who played the ball into striker Marcel Barrington, who laid the ball off for Hassan Ibrahiym but the right-winger took a touch before hitting a left-footed shot on the turn flashing past the right-hand-post from 22-yards.

Barrington used his strength down the heart of the pitch to play the ball inside to Anthony Edgar, who stroked a left-footed drive from a central position from 30-yards, which bounced in front of visiting goalkeeper Louis Rogers before making a comfortable save.

Cray Valley’s third chance of the game resulted in the opening goal in the 31^st minute, following their second of four corners.

Dymond cut the ball back to Edgar, who rolled the ball back to Dymond, who floated in a great cross from the right wing towards the far post where an unmarked Tumkaya buried his header into the top left-hand corner from inside the six-yard box to silence the large travelling contingent.

“We don’t score enough from set-pieces so it was nice to score from one. It was a good ball in, very good technique and a very good header from Cem,” said Watson.

Cray Valley’s left-back Nathan Green over-hit a long ball which forced Rogers to whip a poor clearance upfield which went straight to Edgar, who swept a first-time shot harmlessly wide of the far post from 40-yards, which was gathered by Rogers before the ball went out for a goal-kick.

“With Ant’s technique, you don’t begrudge him having an effort from there. It’s a bit windy so it’s hard, unless it’s going straight to the goal and not out to the side. It’s hard to get enough purchase on it,” added Watson.

Hastings United offered very little in open play for all of the first-half but caused a scare on the stroke of half-time following their second of seven corners.

Central midfielder Dixon played a free-kick into striker Danny Parish, who cut in and the ball was deflected behind for a corner.

Holding midfielder Ryan Worrall swung in a quality delivery from the left which forced Cray Valley goalkeeper Chris Lewington to flick the ball behind while under pressure within a crowd of players at his near post.

“Look, they’re always going to be dangerous from set-pieces.  You give a corner away just before half-time is never great but we dealt with that but the set-pieces in the second half we maybe didn’t deal with them that well,” admitted Watson.

“We were generally quite pleased (at half-time).  The challenge was to try and do it again.

“We always knew there would be a spell in the game where we’d be under pressure.  Look, they’re top of the league for a reason. They put lots of balls into the box from throw-ins and set-pieces and things like that, so we knew it was apart of the game where we had to try to stay resilient.  Obviously, we’ve conceded two.”

Cray Valley deserved their lead at the break but you expected Hastings United would improve in the second-half.

The Millers missed a glorious chance of their own following their third corner in the 10th minute.

Edgar swung the ball in from the left and Tumkaya found a pocket of space at the far post to glance his header across the keeper and past the far post.

“Like I say, it’s nice to score from one but we need to do better from our attacking set-pieces,” admitted Watson.

Hastings United’s centre-half Ollie Black launched five long throws into the Millers penalty area and their best goalscoring attempt from this method came shortly afterwards.

Adeyemo was beaten in the air and Pope’s near-post header from within the six-yard box was glanced straight at Lewington, who made a comfortable catch at his near-post.

Hastings United hit a long ball out of defence which split open centre-half Ian Gayle, who is on loan from Eastbourne Borough.

Lewington rushed off his line and failed to gather and Pope nipped in and held his composure to put it on a plate for an unmarked Parrish but Dymond intercepted the ball and a poor clearance was met by an overhead kick from Pope, which Lewington grabbed hold off.

However, Cray Valley gifted Hastings United their 62^nd minute equaliser.

Hasler was inside the centre-circle inside the Hastings half of the pitch and he whipped a deep left-footed free-kick towards the far post and Tumkaya glanced his header into the bottom far corner of this own net.

Watson said: “It’s the same as last week.  Connor (Dymond) scored a goal for us and scored a goal for them (in our 2-1 home defeat to Three Bridges) and this week Cem scored a goal for us and scored a goal for them.

“It was a good delivery, it’s obviously disappointing to concede.  I thought the flow of the game changed a little bit.  We weren’t maybe winning enough in the middle of the pitch and they were bale to play balls forward with a little bit more time than they did in the first-half.”

Cray Valley missed a glorious chance to snatch the lead in open play inside the final 18 minutes.

Ibrahiym charged forward from inside his own half and penetrated the middle of the pitch with the ball at his feet before feeding Barrington, who drilled a right-footed shot straight into Rogers’ chest when faced a one-on-one situation. 

The 19-goal Millers’ striker had a second bite of the cherry but Tom Chalmers reacted to jump and head the ball behind for a corner.

Watson said: “We defended that set-piece quite well actually didn’t we? Hassan broke and done very well, cut inside, a good run from Marcel.  A good chance, a good save from the goalkeeper.

“I suppose from our perspective I think maybe we should’ve scored from it.  From their perspective it’s a good save from the goalkeeper.”

Hastings United’s right-wing-back Chalmers put in a low cross from within the channel, which was sliced behind for the away side’s sixth corner by Millers’ holding midfielder Matthew Attenborough-Warren.

Hasler swung in the resulting corner from the right, which was cleared out to Pope, whose right-footed shot on the turn from 25-yards bounced towards the bottom far corner, only for Lewington to dive to his left to flick the ball around the post to pull off a great save.

“He done well the lad to turn like that and hit the way he did. It was a good save,” added Watson.

Hasler swung in Hastings’ seventh corner with his left-foot and no one picked up Dixon at the far post and he buried his header into the left-hand corner from inside the six-yard box to seal the deal for Hastings United.

Watson added: “The first corner you’re talking about, we should’ve cleared it. We shouldn’t cleared it out for a corner because we had a little bit more time and again the second corner it was a good delivery. He didn’t have to do a lot to score really. The marking wasn’t great. Someone’s held their hand up to it.

“It’s frustrating to concede two goals from set-pieces. If teams cut you open with great play, I suppose, it’s always, you could’ve done something better whenever you’ve conceded a goal.  You look at it from that perspective, that you could’ve done something better defensively.

“What’s missing?  Probably the same as what’s been missing in most of the games recently.  Just being able to defend consistently for the 90 minutes and when there’s a spell, we have to stay quite resolute.

“We haven’t been scoring enough goals and then conceding ones which you always look at and they were avoidable.

“It’s frustrating but look, they’re good at what they do, aren’t they? They do it relentlessly and consistently.  They are where they are in the table. They play to their strengths, they grind out results.  You’ve got to be good at what your game plan and tactics are and they’re good at theirs.”

Former Welling United striker Parish had a chance when he was fed by Kane Penn, cutting the ball onto his left-foot before drilling a shot straight into Lewington’s midriff at the near post.

Cray Valley were awarded a free-kick by referee Mark Pond some 30-yards out after Pope brought down Ibrahiym but Edgar’s left-footed deflected free-kick was gathered by an untroubled Rogers.

Cray Valley were awarded a free-kick on the right-wing after Black took a bang on the touchline and looked dazed as Dymond offered to pick him off the floor. Black was swiftly replaced by centre-half Marcus Goldsmith for the final four minutes.

Edgar drove in the resulting free-kick towards the far post and Green rose to guide his header straight into the hands of the visiting goalkeeper.

Winger Scott turned Green at the other end but dragged his speculative 30-yarder harmlessly wide of the far post within the final minute of stoppage time, as unconvincing Hastings United claimed their 23^rd league win of the season.

Hastings United have scored 69 league goals this season.  It will be interesting to know how many goals have come from set-pieces?

Hastings United remain at the summit for the thirteenth successive week, having collected 71 points from their 31 of 38 league games.

Ashford United remain in second-place with 61 points from 31 games and Ramsgate remain third with 59 points with a game in hand.

Haywards Heath Town – 1-0 winners at Hythe Town – leapfrogged over the Millers into fourth-place with 58 points from 31 games, leaving Cray Valley in the final play-off berth with 56 points from 31 games.

Herne Bay remain in sixth-place in the table on 54 points but with a game in hand and Watson takes his side down to Haywards Heath Town next Saturday.

“I’ll digest today and I’ll start thinking about it leading up to Saturday.  I’m not thinking about next week, yet,” replied Watson.

The Millers were without Alex Braffo (hamstring), Jack Sammoutis (hamstring) and Rory Hill (another issue) today.

Having lost 1-0 to Folkestone Invicta in the Velocity Trophy, The Millers have suffered league defeats to Ashford United (3-1), Three Bridges and Hastings United and are at risk of losing their place in the play-off zone going into their final seven league games.

Watson said: “They’ll (Hastings) probably will go on and win the league. They’re enough points clear.  We’ve just got to try to get into and stay in the play-offs at this stage.

“It’s not even really about that. We’ve just got to try to get results. We can’t really think about play-offs and promotion places and stuff like that after losing three on the bounce.

“You have to try to get the next win and see where that takes you.  We can’t influence other results. I don’t really expect to be reliant on other results. We’ll just focus on our seven games and win as many games as we can.

“I’ve got a really good bunch of boys in there. That we need to learn how to win more consistently. We’ve had runs when we’ve been really resilient. We’ve had runs where we haven’t.  We’ve lost three games on the bounce. I can’t remember the last time that’s happened so that poses a challenge in itself.

“The players are disappointed in there because they’re all here to try to win football matches and we’re not doing it and they’ll need to be more reflective as well.

“But the buck stops with me as a manager, so at this moment in time it could be deemed that I’m not doing my job well enough, which I’m quite conscience off and I’m quite conscience of others may be thinking the same but I’m determined to do well for the club and the players’ and we’ll try to do what’s within my powers to get that right.”

Watson has ruled out bringing in fresh blood ahead of transfer deadline day at the end of the month.

He said: “It’s not anything that I’m thinking about at this moment in time. We don’t have a high player turnover and I want to keep it that way. If the right player becomes available, like any manager, I would think about it but the pool of players at this time of the year available, you’ve got to recruit well in the summer. I still think we did recruit well in the summer.

“We’ve still got three players with injuries and they’ve all been out for a considerable time so it’s about the training and getting fit and being ready which hopefully they’ll be able to play. Look, that’s not an excuse, every team probably has got injuries.”

Cray Valley (Paper Mills): Chris Lewington, Connor Dymond, Nathan Green, Paul Semakula (Denzel Gayle 83), Ian Gayle, Cem Tumkaya, Ade Adeyemo (Francis Babalola 90), Matthew Attenborough-Warren, Marcel Barrington, Anthony Edgar, Hassan Ibrahiym.
Subs: Nathaniel Blanks, Raheem Sterling-Parker

Goal: Cem Tumkaya 31

Booked: Anthony Edgar 61, Hassan Ibrahiym 68

Hastings United: Louis Rogers, Tom Chalmers, Kane Penn (Ismaila Diallo 74), Craig Stone, Finn O’Mara, Ollie Black (Marcus Goldsmith 86), Jack Dixon, Ryan Worrall (Sam Hasler 46), Ben Pope, Danny Parish, Knory Scott.
Subs: Kenny Pogue, Dave Martin

Goals: Cem Tumkaya 62 (own goal), Jack Dixon 76

Booked: Finn O’Mara 42, Kane Penn 53, Knory Scott 90

Attendance: 286
Referee: Mr Mark Pond
Assistants: Mr Jack Ridge & Mr Ayesemuate Agho