Erith & Belvedere 2-1 Pagham - Cable has come back with the right attitude - Radbourne

Sunday 04th October 2009

ERITH & BELVEDERE 2-1 PAGHAM
FA Carlsberg Vase First Round
Sunday 4th October 2009n
Stephen McCartney reports from Park View Road

RICHIE RADBOURNE praised striker Ross Cable as his two-and-a-half minute brace avoided an embarrassing FA Vase exit at the hands of Sussex County League strugglers Pagham.

The west Sussex side, who found Deres keeper Matt Bromby in fine form, led through Brett Forden’s controversial strike, but much-travelled striker Cable came up with the goods with his eighth and ninth goals of the season to join Bulmers Cider Kent League rivals Beckenham Town, Faversham Town and Herne Bay in tomorrow’s second round draw.

“Ross has been in good form lately,” Deres’ joint-manager Radbourne told www.kentishfootball.co.uk after his side’s smash-and-grab.

“He’s shown good attitude on and off the pitch. He’s a good lad and he will score goals from nothing - everyone knows he will - as long as Ross’s head is right, he’s right. I’m over the moon with him.

“We’ve brought him back to the club this year, he’s come back with a totally different attitude - the right attitude.

“He can see what we’re trying to achieve here and he’s part of that.”

The Deres needed something special as Radbourne was not very happy with their poor display.

There one and only first half chance arrived in the eleventh minute when John-Paul Colliers’ free-kick was met by a downward header by central defender Casey Scotter, which was straight at rotund Pagham keeper Wes Hallett.

Bromby made smart saves to thwart Dan Jones and Andy Cox as Pagham would have felt aggrieved with their FA Vase exit as they created the better chances of a dull game.

With other joint-manager Paul Gorman standing in the officials section of the main stand hoping things would improve during the second half, it was Pagham who had their best spell around the half-hour mark.

But Bromby excelled, tipping Ryan Cox’s driven shot around his post after the striker was released by Danny Cowtain in the 57th minute and his best save of the game arrived just four minutes later when he tipped over Andy Cox’s angled drive from the right.

Erith & Belvedere were all at sea when Pagham, at the time, deserved to break the stalemate in the 63rd minute.

One player was running back from an offside position as the ball was played forward but Forden used his initiative to continue his run through on goal. An offside flag was raised - and was then put down - and the Pagham striker rounded Bromby and slotted the ball into an open net.

When asked his views on the incident, Radbourne replied, “I spoke to the linesman about it and he told me that he thought the other player was running for it, which he meant to put his flag up. The other player stopped and the player who was onside (Forden) carried on. It weren’t much qualms about it.

“We tried to make a bit of a fuss and the linesman did put his flag up (and then down) but he wasn’t offside.”

Pagham’s Seb Bagyura called Bromby into making a routine comfortable save as the ball bounced into his arms but Cable turned the game on it’s head by levelling the score with just twenty minutes remaining.

Bromby was told by Gorman to blast a free-kick up field and the ball was flicked into Cable’s path, who had cleared the Pagham back-four and slid the ball past Hallett and was relieved to see the ball cross the line after bouncing off the foot of the right-hand post.

The goal lifted the gloom and the home side enjoyed their best spell of the game and completed the smash-and-grab raid moments later.

Collier, in the middle of the park, split the shell-shocked Pagham defence with a through ball for Cable and the striker clinically slid he ball inside the bottom right-hand corner with his left-foot.

Pagham, meanwhile, squandered two excellent chances to force extra time. A ball came in from the right and Forden leapt and sent a looping header across Bromby only for it to bounce off the foot of the far post.

The striker had his head in his arms inside the last five minutes when he powered Dan Cox’s corner from the left over the bar from six-yards out, but Radbourne admitted afterwards it was a poor performance from his side, despite winning their sixth successive game.

“We never gave up!” he said. “That’s one thing we’ve done this year, we never give up, which is always nice.

“We’ve won a lot of games in the last twenty minutes. I just wish we should start like that. If we start like that, then who knows?

“It weren’t impressive, I told them at half-time, it weren’t impressive. I told them to keep the ball. It’s been our worst performance in the five or six games that we’ve won!”

Ever-present keeper Bromby has only kept one clean sheet in 12 games so far this season and this is worrying Radbourne, who said, “It’s a slight concern. We seem to make hard work of our performances for some reason for whatever reason, I do not know.

“We’ve brought in the likes of John Maloney (who made his debut today) and Dave Waters (who was unavailable along with Huseyin Budak, Dave Hassett and Juan Ramirez), two experienced centre halves, which will help the younger players in the backline.

“They haven’t paired up together yet, that will be interesting to see, but it is a slight concern that we haven’t kept a clean sheet. That’s something that we’ve got to address.”

Radbourne explained why Martin Ford remained at Park View Road for less than a month before walking out.

“I brought Martin in to work alongside me, he just felt it wasn’t right for him,” he said. “He came in and gave it a go and what he done was he gave me ideas and he steadied the ship for us.

“I’m only young, I needed an experienced man and it would be nice if he was still here to work alongside us.

“He decided it wasn’t for him and for personal reasons has decided to move on. Obviously he will be back in the game, of course he will, he’s that type of fella.”

Erith & Belvedere: Matt Bromby, Matt Bedford, Joe Penny, David Conway, Casey Scotter, John Maloney, John-Paul Collier, Adrian Deane (Danny Beszant 63), Ross Cable, Louis Collins (Nathan Bell 87), Danny Tipple (John Gallagher 29).
Subs: Sam Scoates, Lee Benevente.

Goals: Ross Cable 70, 72

Pagham: Wes Hallett, Kieron Urqhart, Dan Cox, Lee Bradshaw, Sean Towers, Dan Jones, Seb Bagyura (Kerry Hardwell 81), Danny Cowtain (Sam Devine 69), Ryan Cox, Brett Forden, Andy Cox (Andres Wyatt 75).
Subs:Chris Hellier, Tommy Miller.

Goal: Brett Forden 63

Booked: Kieron Urqhart 8, Ryan Cox 71

Attendance: 92
Referee: Mr Kirk English (Romford, Essex)
Assistants: Mr Gary Coster (Barking, Essex) & Mr Colin Overall (Grays, Essex)