Erith Town 0-5 Rochester United - None of us want to go down, says Rochester boss Matt Hume

ERITH TOWN  0-5  ROCHESTER UNITED
Southern Counties East Football League
Tuesday 10^th February 2015
Stephen McCartney reports from Middle Park Avenue

ERITH TOWN joint-manager Joe Ford launched criticism towards his players’ for their embarrassing performance in his first game in joint-charge with his dad Martin.



RELEGATION BATTLE: Rochester United boss Matt Hume says he doesn't want to become the first team relegated from the Southern Counties East Football League
Photo: http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/rochesterunited

Rochester United romped into 4-0 lead inside the opening sixteen minutes through James Alderman, Lyndon Rowland and a brace from Robert Alderman, as bottom of the table Erith Town played like a team of strangers.

Rochester United striker Ricky Gundry scored his fifteenth goal for the club at the end as the Medway side leapfrogged over Croydon into fifteenth-place in the Southern Counties East Football League table with 24 points from 26 games.

Erith Town are three points adrift at the foot of the table on 15 points from 24 games and Ford was an unhappy figure at the end of the game following the club’s seventeenth league defeat of a sorry campaign.

He said: “To be honest with you, we looked like a team that have been put together in four days, which is basically what we’ve had.

“I think we started really sloppy. We conceded four goals in sixteen minutes and we couldn’t come back from that.

“It’s no good when you’ve got a new team, new side, people don’t know each other and that’s not the ideal scenario.

“It was a poor start. I can’t defend any of the players. I told the players at half-time a few people have shifted responsibility, not done their jobs. One of the goals, I don’t think we could have done nothing about. I think he’s hit a worldy into the top corner from about 30 yards. We couldn’t have done much about that one but the other two were set-pieces and one of the lads didn’t pick up on the edge of the box like I asked him to despite having a warning.

“I’m a little bit disappointed from the four goals point of view.”

Rochester United manager Matt Hume hailed his side as they eased away from the relegation dog-fight.

“Really, really pleased. It’s been a long time coming,” said Hume.

“I’ve always felt we were capable of putting in a performance where we do that to a team.

“We only played Beckenham two weeks ago and we had exactly the same sort of first half as that and we came in with no goals at half-time and we could have been four or five-nil in that game.

“We had a disappointing game Saturday and it was about reminding ourselves how we played against Beckenham in that first half and frankly we did.

“It was great to see everyone play to their potential. We’ve got a lot of lads in our side who we’ve brought through this year, not Kent League players a lot of them and they are now going to be Kent League players and they’ve shown that this season.

“I’ve said to all along, at the moment we’re definitely a team that’s better than our position suggests.  We haven’t performed in a sense of getting goals and keeping clean sheets and I was just as impressed with the clean sheet as I was with the five goals.”

Rochester United got off to a flying start and camped themselves inside the Dockers’ half for large chunks during an excellent first half performance.

Their first opening after only 57 seconds set the tone for a one-sided match.

Steve Rothery throw found James Alderman, who played the ball inside to Kevin Penfold, whose drive shot was blocked and Matt McHugh’s follow-up shot sailed harmlessly wide.

James Alderman then played the ball inside to brother Robert Alderman, whose right-footed angled drive rolled into the hands of Joel Hannington, making his Erith Town debut whilst on loan from Vanarama Conference club Welling United.

But the youngster was soon to endure a nightmare ten minute period, where he shipped in four goals.

McHugh swung in a corner from the right, which was punched away by Hannington, the ball dropping at James Alderman’s feet, who drilled his right-footed angled drive through a crowd of bodies to find the bottom far corner from 25-yards after only five minutes and 42 seconds into the Ford’s reign.

Ford admitted: “We had a set of lads in front of us before the game that have never played together before, never met each other.  One thing we did say to them is we know you don’t know each other. We know there’s a few new faces in the squad but we’ve got to deal with the circumstances.

“I think for the first 15-20 minutes we didn’t look like we knew each other. It looked like a team that wasn’t organised and I think when you put a team together in the space of four days, it was pretty evident what led to the downfall of the four goals.”

Hume said: “Yes, it was a really good start. It was down to us starting well tonight.  Midweek fixtures are always tough in getting people right for the game. Everyone’s rushed in from work. It’s a bit difficult for us to get here from location where a lot of our lads work so it’s about focusing.

“It’s always important the first 10-15 minutes, even more so in midweek games.”

Rochester United doubled their lead after only eight minutes and four seconds when an unorganised Erith Town failed to deal with another set-piece.

McHugh swung the ball in from the right again and Tom Carr flicked the ball on at the near post for Rowland, who couldn’t miss from a couple of yards out, stroking his shot past Hannington.

“Again, that came from good pressure.  We looked threatening in the box an awful lot of the time,” said Hume.

“Lyndon’s been great for us since he’s come, which was about a month ago and he’s always a threat in that area.

“He’s got a lot of experience, he’s got an awful lot to offer our club in actually how he’s bringing the youngsters on and he’s invaluable to us.”

Ford added: “One thing we spoke about before the game for set-pieces tonight, because we haven’t had a chance to work on anything like that, we just said old school, pick up a man, deal with it! We didn’t!

“They’ve come in the box, they’ve flicked on, it’s gone to the man and he’s poked it in from a couple of yards, but two set-pieces, really sloppy defending.” 

Rochester raced into a 3-0 lead inside 10 minutes through a sweeping move which resulted in Gundry releasing Robert Alderman through on goal, who placed his right-footed shot into the bottom left-hand corner when he only had the shell-shocked keeper to beat.

“They were well-worked goals,” added Hume.

“They’re all good goals that we scored tonight and that was definitely one of them.”

Ford said: “I thought the third goal was a good goal. I didn’t think we could do much about it.  The geezer hit a shot from a way out, a great little one-two that they played in there and couldn’t do a lot about it.

“If I’m being critical maybe my defenders could have been a bit tighter maybe.  We let them come at us a little too easy. A sloppy goal again to concede. There’s not much I can say other than the first four goals, that they were really sloppy.”

Gundry played the ball inside to Ashley Cooper, who cracked a left-footed drive over the bar from 30-yards, before Robert Alderman scored the fourth goal with 15:42 on the clock.

McHugh’s out-swinging corner came in from the right and Robert Alderman drilled a stunning right-footed drive from 25-yards, which screamed into the top left-hand corner, despite Hannington doing well to get his right hand to the screamer.

Hume said: “Great goal! I just literally said Rob is a great defender as well and I wanted him back but it landed at his feet and he scored straight in the top corner so I was really pleased for the lad. It was excellent.”

Ford added: “I thought he done well to get a hand to it. Joel’s a good goalkeeper. He’s at Welling at the moment, he’s on loan with us. He’s a good kid, a great attitude. He’s the first one in the changing room to speak up when things are going bad. You probably heard him tonight shouting out instructions from his goalmouth. He’s a really good goalkeeper, got a bright future. Unfortunately tonight we let him a little bit exposed so I don’t think we could do much with all of the goals.”

Rochester United continued their dominance and Rowland shaped up to stroke his left-footed free-kick over the crossbar from 25-yards before Gundry cut in from the right to clip his left-footed shot straight at the Dockers’ keeper.

Rochester United were always a threat through McHugh’s corners and Penfold came up from the back to send his free header sailing past the far post.

Erith Town’s only chance of the first half arrived in the 34^th minute.

Tayler Thomas burst down the right, rode Rothery’s sliding tackle to reach the by-line before cutting the ball back to Richard Morgan, who steered his left-footed shot on the turn across big keeper Dan Ellis and past the far post from 18-yards.

Ford said: “After that (opening 20 minutes) I felt we picked ourselves up a little bit. We passed the ball very well at times after the first 20 minutes, created a couple of decent opportunities but we were always facing an uphill battle with the amount of time that we had to get prepared for this game.”

When asked how he felt with his side coasting at the break, Hume replied: “That we’ve got to keep a clean sheet.  I’ve been in a position before where we’ve dominated games being 4-0 up.  One springs to mind when we played Ashford a couple of years ago when I was with Bly Spartans at the time and they beat us 5-4!

“We were 4-1 up with fifteen minutes to go so I made that clear at half-time that nothing’s won and through my mind at that point when you’re languishing down where we were you’ve got to be fully focused and not let anybody back in the game.

“I think we played to our strengths and obviously we was aware of there was a lot of new players in their side today. What we had to try to do was stop them playing quickly because I assumed a few of their players haven’t played together before.

“It was about us getting at them early and not allow them dictating play.  There was spells in that game particularly towards the end of the first half they started coming back into it. We started letting them play.

“I said to them at half-time, it’s really, really important we stick to what we were working on and making sure they don’t get any time to start dictating how they wanted to play.

“In the second half it was definitely about not conceding and letting them back in”

There had to be some soul-searching in the home dressing room during the half-time interval.

“We conceded four goals after sixteen minutes so from that point onwards you just have to set yourselves the challenge of playing for a bit of pride and that’s what we asked of them at half-time,” said Ford.

“I actually thought in the second half we’d go down the other end and score a couple of goals – it didn’t happen!

“We just felt we lacked a little bit tonight in the final third. Some of our build-up play was fantastic sometimes in the second half. We passed the ball a lot better than what Rochester did. It was a game of two different halves for us and Rochester.

“Second half we dealt with things a lot better. I think the slope might’ve have had a bit to play in the game. Getting up the slope defending, we didn’t get out of our half.”

Erith Town, who were kicking down the slope, created the first chance of the second half when Nick Gonsalves played the ball into Morgan, who hit a speculative right-footed wide from 25-yards.

Rochester United went close to increasing their lead in the 53^rd minute.

James Alderman swept the ball out to Robert Alderman on the right to cut inside Erith Town’s left-back Jack Webber before cutting the ball back to Carr, the central defending finding himself on the edge of the box to curl his shot around the far post.

Erith Town made a double substitution on the hour mark and Richard Monan, who started, raced forward before drilling his left-footed shot over the bar from 25-yards.

Rochester United played some scintillating football and were denied a fifth goal in the 65^th minute.

Robert Alderman cut in from the right and passed to Cooper, who whipped in a cross from the right channel for Gundry to nip in front of his man at the near post to hook his volley sailing across Hannington and against the angle of post and crossbar.

Hume added: “We created enough chances second half, one hit the post, there was a couple of half chances.”

Morgan released Monan down the hill but the Erith Town midfielder powered his right-footed drive just over the crossbar from 25-yards.

Carr, who ventured forward again, stroked his low left-footed drive into Hannington’s gloves from 25-yards after McHugh played the ball in from the left.

A pass from Sam Gent found Jon Main in space inside the penalty area but the Dockers star striker, 33, steered his left-footed shot harmlessly wide.

Ford said: “Jon’s has a fantastic non-league record. I think he’s one of the best.  We know Jon through VCD. I remember my old man when he had Jon at VCD when he first signed him he was on a £30 per week contract for a year down at VCD.  I think he scored 30 odd goals that season and he moved on to Cray Wanderers and Tonbridge and then onto Wimbledon. 

“We got him in by simply giving him a phone call. He lives about two minutes away from Erith Town Football Club.”

Rochester striker Gundry stung Hannington’s fingers with a left-footed shot after he received the ball from substitute Reece Gilles.

Erith Town’s best chance of the night, however, arrived in the final five minutes.

Webber, Main and substitute Jack Kensington linked up well in midfield and the ball came out to right-back George Savage, who floated in a deep cross into the box where the unmarked Monan headed down and into Ellis’ hands for a comfortable save.

Ford said: “I was a little bit disappointed in the second half with our performance as a whole.

“I said to them at half-time we’re 4-0 down, play for pride, play with a little bit of passion.

“There’s a lot of boys in there tonight that haven’t played for a long time.

“We’ve had a few players in the squad that I won’t beat around the bush that were here before that let the club down.

“Me and Martin have taken on a mantle of a challenge here at Erith and I think a few boys have shifted their responsibility. Boys who were at the club before, there was only three or four in the squad tonight because I’ll be honest with you the rest have left.

“The Dulwich clan and a couple of others who were on loan here they’ve all gone and I said to the boys after the game that even though we lost 5-0, I said to them, well done! First of all for turning up and second of all talking on the challenge that they’ve taken on because a lot of boys have played for this club this season and when the going’s got tough they’ve jacked it and left.”

Hume added: “Dan’s been superb for us. He talks great, he’s fantastic for us. We acquitted him, I don’t know how long ago now, probably two and a half, three months ago and since he’s been in the side, he’s a young keeper as well and he’s only going to get better.”

But Rochester United waited until 55 seconds into injury time to score their fifth goal of the night when Gundry brought the ball under his spell to cut in before drilling a low right-footed shot into the bottom near corner from sixteen-yards.

Hume said: “It was great to see us dictating the game, how we should have done. We were very professional second half.

“He was desperate for a goal today. He’s a forward and every forward want’s to score goals and you could see him really itching to get on the goalscoring sheet and I’m so glad for him that he did.

“It was a great goal! He’s capable of that. He’s got great feet Ricky and he created that pretty much out of himself. I was pleased he got on the scoresheet as well.”

Ford felt Hannington could have done better with the shot, saying, “Maybe if I’m being critical about the last goal, just there at the end, maybe he could have dived a little bit quicker to his right-hand side but that would be extremely critical of me to do that when it’s come through a crowd of players.”

Erith Town travel to Fisher on Saturday, in a big relegation six-pointer at Champion Hill.

Ford said: “I’m quite confident still, even though we have been well and truly battered tonight, I’m still well and truly confident we will stay up.

“Fisher are always a well-organised side. It will be good for my old man going back there. I know he’ll want to win the game and they’ll be a little bit more passion to it, but every game is a big game for us now.  It’s not just the ones that are around us, we’ve got to now look to take points off the big boys when we’ve got them.

“We’ve started off with a bad result tonight. Let’s make no bones about it. The result is a really bad one and it leaves us at the foot of the table now. We’re a few points adrift so we’ve got to go again.

“I’ve also said to them in there if there is anyone who is not up for this challenge – if there is anyone who doesn’t fancy it – come and see us tonight because we haven’t got time to mess about.

“We have to get in players who want to keep this club in the division.”

Rochester United welcome second-from-bottom Lingfield to Rede Court Road at the weekend, before travelling to Fisher seven days later.

Hume said: “We’ve got to look at Lingfield and Fisher.  They’re the two that we want to get the points out of because that’s going to make a difference to us where we are down the bottom.”

“We’re concerned like Erith are probably are. None of us want to go down and at this stage of the season if we can give us some breathing space and not get us in that situation where we’re chasing it towards the end of the season, it’s great for us and the club.”

Erith Town: Joel Hannington, George Savage, Jack Webber, David Willis, Cedric Abraham, Sam Gent, Tayler Thomas (Adriano Lawson 60), Richard Monan, Nick Gonsalves (Jack Kensington 60), Jon Main, Richard Morgan (Connor Taylor).
Subs: Daniel Carrington, Luke Adams

Booked: Jon Main 38

Rochester United: Dan Ellis, Harrison Grant, Steve Rothery, Kevin Penfold, Tom Carr, Ashley Cooper, Matt McHugh (Vince Collis 78), James Alderman (Reece Gilles 75), Robert Alderman, Lyndon Rowland, Ricky Gundry.
Subs: James Long, Steve Earle

Goals: James Alderman 6, Lyndon Rowland 9, Robert Alderman 10, 16, Ricky Gundry 90

Attendance: 63
Referee: Mr Oliver Fyfe (Sidcup)
Assistants: Mr Gary Nicholls (Rainham) & Mr Kenan Dogan (Dartford)