Erith & Belvedere 1-4 Witham Town - I'm pretty confident results will change, says Chris Cosgrove

Witham Town climbed up three places into third-place in the Ryman League Division One North table with 31 points from 14 games – although the final scoreline was harsh on struggling Erith & Belvedere, who remain in the bottom five with 17 points from 16 games.

Witham Town opened the scoring inside the opening ten minutes when central midfielder James Stevens blasted a penalty straight down the middle.

But Erith & Belvedere deservedly got back into the game and were grateful to Witham Town’s left-back Seb Murfet heading into his own goal seven minutes into the second half.

Winger Kris Newby curled in his ninth-goal of the season to give the Essex side the lead with seventeen minutes remaining, before Cosgrove committed tactical suicide as they went in search for the equaliser.

If letting in one goal inside injury time was bad enough, conceding two is catastrophic as Danny Emmanuel and substitute Michael Begg took advantage to give the outcome a flattering look.

“No we didn’t (deserve to lose 4-1), no way in a million years,” said Cosgrove afterwards.

“The last couple of minutes we were 2-1 down. We pushed our centre half (George Benner) up to try to nick something and we got done without the centre half being there.

“You might as well lose three or four one than 2-1, trying to get something out of the game, which I really thought we deserved.

“I think the boys were out on their feet, absolutely out on their feet where they put so much in to it and they kept going, going and going and trying and trying and trying.  You can’t fault their effort. 

“We played the right way, we played all the right football. They’ve done absolutely all that I asked of them. We kept going until the end but we’re lacking a bit of luck at the moment, which you can’t buy.”

Reflecting on the club’s league position in their inaugural Ryman League campaign, the former Greenwich Borough manager added: “It’s frustrating but it was expected. We ain’t kidding ourselves. You’re saying we’re in the bottom five but we’re seven points away from the relegation area. Seven points more than we expected to have at this time of the year at the beginning of the season.

“We knew it was going to be hard but look at it we’re seven points clear of relegation and in the last week I think we’ve played three of the top four so it’s been a tough week, but two of them, Aveley and today, we’ve more than matched them.”

Cosgrove made four changes from the side that suffered a 7-0 defeat at Heybridge Swifts last Tuesday.

James Golding, Louis Sprossen, Tyler Christian-Love and Walid Matata all came in, but they failed to stop the slide as Cosgrove has now lost three of his four games in sole charge after parting company with Martin Ford and son Joe Ford on 7 October.

Witham Town’s opening chance arrived after only 57 seconds when Newby released Lewis Godbold down the left before he swept the ball out to George Artemi, who swept his left-footed drive flashing wide of the target from 25-yards.

Set-piece specialist Stevens floated in a free-kick into the Erith & Belvedere penalty area where central defender Paul King steered his header comfortably into Ashley Bourne’s gloves from eight-yards.

Erith & Belvedere’s first chance arrived in the fifth minute.

Marcus Cassius used his pace to progress down the right-wing before playing the ball inside to George Savage, who swept the ball out to Ryan Flack.

The right-winger cut in before stroking a low right-footed drive from 20-yards, where visiting keeper Martyn Guest saved low down in front of his feet.

Cassius almost produced a brilliant finish when he picked up Christian-Love’s pass before cracking a swerving left-footed drive from 30-yards, which was caught by Guest.

Cosgrove said he was pleased with Christian-Love’s debut – the former Margate attacker becoming the 38^th player to be used by the Kent club already this season.

“Excellent debut,” said Cosgrove. “He’s another boy whose been out injured. This is his first competitive game for a few games. I thought first half he was excellent. I don’t think he gave the ball away once, with the exception when he tripped.

“The last half-an-hour he tired a bit but that’s because he hasn’t played for so long.

“I think he’s an excellent player, a really good player, a good passer of the ball and he will bring our quick forwards and wingers into the game.  I’m looking forward to a very positive performance.”

But disaster struck The Deres when central midfielder Sam Gent was penalised by referee Thomas Ramsey for chopping down Dean Green after a fine Witham move in and around the penalty area.

Cosgrove said: “It was probably a penalty. He got the wrong side of him.  Maybe there was a tangle of legs? I didn’t see that much because I was a long way away, but I’m not going to complain about penalties. The referee was a lot closer than me, so he’s given what he’s seen.

“I thought Sam Gent had a very good game today. He worked his socks off”

Stevens stepped up and blasted his right-footed penalty straight down the middle on the deck beating Bourne, who had moved slightly to his right.

Cosgrove added: “Maybe it’s the best place to put them? Keeper’s often commit one way won’t they? The keeper will always take a gamble one way, maybe it was a clever penalty?”

But Erith & Belvedere should have been level, only 46 seconds after going a goal behind.

Walid Matata – who was making his first start of his second spell at the club - was released straight through the heart of the Witham defence and only had Guest to beat, but the goalkeeper made a fine block to his right to deny the former Dover Athletic, Folkestone Invicta and Ashford Town striker.

“Walid’s a big prospect, he’s been out of football for a while due to injury and that’s his first start he’s had in quite a while,” explained Cosgrove.

“Maybe a couple of games down the line he’d be a lot more match fit and he’d have scored it. He’s showed today that he’s going to be a dangerous player.  He lacks a bit of match fitness but he’ll be scoring for fun as you will see hopefully later on in the year.  Hopefully he’ll be scoring goals. That’s our problem. We don’t get much luck in front of goal.”

That miss, however, seemed to have a knock-on effect on the home side as their early dominance ebbed away.

Central midfielder, George Savage, whipped in a corner from the right in the 23^rd minute, which sailed over Guest, who was relieved when his right-back John Watson headed the ball off the line on the back post.

Witham Town – who finished in fourth-place last season and lost to promoted Thamesmead Town in the play-off semi-finals – had to wait until the half-hour mark for their best chance.

Emmanuel found big target man Dean Green, who played the ball inside to Emmanuel, whose first time right-footed angled drive from sixteen-yards forced the former Gillingham keeper into making a comfortable save low to his right.

Cosgrove said: “Ashley Bourne was called upon once in the first half-an-hour, against a team that’s probably second in the league. It shows that we were doing all of the good work. We were creating a lot ourselves.”

Bourne made a better save when he beat away King’s fierce drive after Stevens floated in a free-kick into The Deres’ penalty area.

Erith & Belvedere linked up well down the right when full-back Golding played the ball to Gent, who cut the ball back to the unmarked Flack, but his left-footed drive deflected over the bar from fifteen-yards.

Witham Town created the last chance of the first half when Emmanuel cut the ball back to Watson, who was given time and space to whip in a cross and Green took a touch before drilling his right-footed shot over the top of the near post.

When asked what he said to his troops during the half-time interval, Cosgrove said: “I just said to the boys, good performance, keep doing what you’re doing, keep getting the ball wide, keep working your socks off.  It will come. A goal will come.”

But Cosgrove said he was pleased when Erith & Belvedere deservedly equalised with their first attempt of the second half.

Savage was given time and space to whip in a cross from the right channel which was intended for Cassius at the near post but Murfet got their first and sent his diving header into the top right-hand corner of his own net from six-yards.

The Deres boss added: “The goal did come. We scored a goal. We’ve done everything that I’ve asked. I can’t fault what they’ve done. 

“I thought the play was good and the work-rate and the effort was second to none.

“It was a good header, a brilliant header and it was a deserved equaliser and we got what we deserved and from then on we pushed on and we could have got another one. We looked like the team that was going to win it.

“We’re not getting that bit of luck at the moment. Sometimes you need that bit of luck. You need a ball to fall for you in the box. Every time we put the ball in the box they seemed to win the first ball. Sometimes you need the ball to fall to your strikers in the right place to get that bit of luck. It was falling to their defence, every second ball fell to them. 

“You know it’s swings and roundabouts. It’s a long season. Hopefully we’ve had a bit of bad luck and the luck will turn in our favour.”

Bourne made a smart block to thwart Green, who had latched onto Watson’s pass in the 55^th minute, before Witham Town should have done better after Savage had missed his clearance at the near post and the ball came back out to Stevens who drilled his shot wide of the near post.

A precise through ball from Stevens split open Aiden Sherlock and George Benner to put Green through but the striker’s first touch was poor and the ball trickled behind for a goal-kick.

Watson then played the ball into lively winger Emmauel, who turned Sprossen to cut inside before whipping in a cross where Green’s first time volley on the turn from 12-yards sailed over.

Murfet’s long ball out of defence split open the home side’s defence and Begg only had keeper Bourne to beat.  The referee awarded a goal-kick but it appeared that the Erith & Belvedere keeper got something on the shot to tip the ball just around the left-hand post.

Cosgrove said: “If he’s got a hand to it, excellent save, but good luck to the boy, the boy is a good keeper. The boy does not deserve to be on a losing side. He’s an excellent keeper. I can’t really fault him for one goal that’s gone in today.”

But Witham Town scored the killer goal when Newby produced a moment of quality.

Stevens played the ball up to Godbold, who flicked the ball out to Newby, who shaped his body to curl a brilliant shot around Bourne to find the top far corner from 25-yards – it was not luck as Cosgrove claimed but skill.

Cosgrove was a little bit disrespectful to Newby, who has now scored nine goals this season.

He claimed: “They’ve saved their best goals of the season for us, don’t they? It goes against you. If he tried that ten times, he’ll probably score one in ten.

“It’s a long season. I’m not going to moan about luck going against us, which it undoubtedly is at the moment but hopefully it will turn and we can have a fair share of it.  All I’m asking and hoping we get our fair share of luck and maybe we can get a few worldies and get what we deserve. We’re not deserving this at the moment.”

Just like in their last home game (a 2-1 defeat to Aveley), Erith & Belvedere cranked up the tempo when it was a little bit too late.

Cosgrove threw on striker Luke Tanner, who squandered three chances in six minutes.

The former Cray Valley striker has struggled in the Ryman League with only one goal to his name this season, but he stole the ball off a defender inside the Witham box and his right-footed drive from fifteen-yards produced a brilliant save from Guest, who dived to his right and managed to stick out a strong right hand to palm the shot behind for a corner.

Savage swung in the resulting corner from the left, hoping to whip the ball into the top near corner, but Guest managed to get across his goal and stuck out his arms to push the ball over.

Golding played a low centre in from the right and Tanner made space at the near post and from a tight angle dragged his right-footed shot wide of the far post.

Savage then bulldozed his way through the heart of the Witham Town defence and was fouled in the process but the referee carried on with the attack (before bringing back play for a free-kick that came to nothing) and Tanner swept a first time shot straight at Guest from just inside the box.

Cosgrove said: “He could have had a hat-trick in six minutes.  Luke has done everything right except score. Luke’s work-rate is good. He’s had three shots today, two on target and one narrowly missed.  You can’t ask for no more from him.

“Striker’s work on confidence and they have runs of goals. I think if he gets one goal more will come. He needs a goal badly the boy but everything else he’s doing is excellent. You can’t fault his attitude or his effort and his work-rate but when he gets one goal, hopefully more will follow.”

As the home club’s second largest crowd of the season came to terms with a 2-1 defeat, Witham Town scored twice with 46:36 and 48:32 on the clock.

Left-back Jake McIntyre, who was punished for his midweek red-card for starting the game on the bench, was guilty of failing to cut out a long ball and Emmanuel pounced on the ball before bursting forward and rounding the keeper before slotting his shot into the bottom left-hand corner. McIntyre did get back and slid in and got the last touch before crossing the line.

Cosgrove said: “I’d rather not talk about the third or fourth goal! We were playing two at the back by then.

“We already pushed Golding on in to a more advanced position. We pushed Benner up to a centre forward position.

“My attitude was we could have kept a back four and lost the game 2-1. We could have easily done that but you don’t get no points for losing 2-1!

“My nature is when you’re 2-1 down, you only have to get the one ball forward and it might come off George Benner’s head and drop to one of our players. We were going for it by then. I feel the result could easily have been 2-1 if we kept our back four but we went with a back two, which sometimes you have to do in a game.”

Erith & Belvedere capitulated when Emmanuel was given time and space down the right wing to deliver a hanging cross on to the head of unmarked striker Begg, who powered his header past Bourne.

Two of the bottom four clubs below Erith & Belvedere have a better goal-difference than the Kent club.

Cosgrove said: “Hopefully goal-difference won’t come into it! I’m hoping it won’t go as far as goal-difference. Hopefully I’m not proven wrong!

“We’ve still got seven points to spare and we’ve played a lot of the top teams at the moment.

“In a couple of weeks’ time we do have nine out of the ten teams around us.”

Cosgrove insists a total number of 46 points will maintain the club’s Ryman League status.

“We’ve got seventeen points from sixteen games. We’re a point above our target ain’t we? I think we’ve got the top four out of the way out of the first sixteen games.

“We’ve got to play a lot of the teams around us. I don’t think we’ve played any of the bottom teams yet. We’ve still got a lot of games that are loseable – don’t get me wrong – I don’t underestimate these teams one minute. They’re all decent teams in this league but they’re winnable if we put in performances like we did today.”

Cosgrove added: “We’re not ready for the teams in the top four. I’m pretty confident the results will change and if we put these performances in against some of the teams around us, we will get positive results.”

Erith & Belvedere: Ashley Bourne, James Golding, Louis Sprossen (Jake McIntyre 65), George Savage, Aiden Sherlock, George Benner, Marcus Cassius (Taylor Thomas 78), Tyler Christian-Love, Walid Matata (Luke Tanner 69), Sam Gent, Ryan Flack.
Subs: Marvin Alebiosu, Ashley Bailey

Goal: Seb Murfet 52 (own goal)

Booked: Louis Sprossen 36, Walid Matata 46

Witham Town: Martyn Guest, John Watson, Seb Murfet, Luke Olley, Paul King, James Stevens, Kris Newby, George Artemi (Paul White 77), Dean Green (Michael Begg 66), Lewis Godbold, Danny Emmanuel.
Subs: Tom Wraight, Daniel Lopes, Bradley Stopher

Goals: James Stevens 10 (penalty), Kris Newby 73, Danny Emmanuel 90, Michael Begg 90

Booked: Paul King 85

Attendance: 103
Referee: Mr Thomas Ramsey (Chelmsford, Essex)
Assistants:  Mr Alex Gray (Lambeth, London SE11) & Mr Craig Cox (Wandsworth, London SW18)